Raven
by thisaccountisdeletedsoleave
Summary: Raven Nerezza had always thought that her life could improved. Her mom is never around, her dad is gone, her brother and her boyfriend are dead...yeah. Things could be going better. But what happens when she survives a monster attack and discovers Camp Half-Blood? Most canon ships are included. Character death and injury... (mentions of abuse, depression, etc. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Cliff Diving and Car Crashes

_**~Raven~**_

When I jumped off that cliff, I was fairly certain that I would survive it. But, as usual, I was wrong. Sort of.

See, I was dared by my one and only friend, a boy with untamed brown hair named Andy, to go cliff diving. And being the stubborn, prideful girl that I am, I couldn't just refuse.

The morning of the jump was chilly and windy. It was Spring, so even though it was early, only seven o'clock, there was a pale yellow light filtering through the clouds, which were grey. Everything was grey that morning. The water, the sky, Andy's sweatshirt, the one he had received from me on his 14th birthday. That was just a little over a year ago.

I looked over at him as we approached the ledge of the Palisades.

"Are you really going to do this?" he asked me. His expression was worried, and something else I couldn't quite place. " I mean, what if you get hurt, Raven?"

I scoffed, trying to lighten the mood and convince him I wasn't scared. But I was. I was terrified.

"Please," I joked, looking into his eyes. "I'll be fine." But I could tell that he could see through my act. _He knows me too well_ , I thought.

We had arrived at the top of the cliff face. I looked down, my stomach churning, similar to the dark waves below. They looked cold, and unwelcoming. I shivered.

Andy shoved his hands into his pockets, and stared at me apprehensively. His amber eyes met my coal colored ones, and I hesitated before taking a deep breath, zipping my black jacket up to my throat, and positioning myself to jump.

The wind whipped my feathery black hair around my face. My knees bent and my body tensed up, coiled tight like a spring, waiting to be released. I crouched a bit lower and prepared myself. _Raven,_ I thought. _This might just be the stupidest thing you've ever done._

"Wait!" Andy yelled, "Please be careful. Of the rocks. And the water. Try to keep your head above it. And I'll be down at the shoreline to get you in a minute. Okay? Be careful."

I gave him my signature half-smile, but it was fake. I was scared. Without looking at Andy again, I jumped.

I felt like I was flying. The wind howled in my ears, sounding like a wild animal. I found myself with a huge grin on my face, the biggest one I'd had in awhile. A _real_ one, too. Smiling was hard for me these days. But here… here I was free. I didn't feel like me anymore, which was good. I didn't feel like Raven anymore. The girl with anxiety and depression. I felt like the bird I was named for, soaring through the clouds. The speed of the wind forced tears into my eyes, and I howled with joy.

This was the fun part. The falling. But once I hit the water, all the air was knocked from my lungs. I couldn't breathe. The water around me was too dark to see how deep I was, and my chest was burning from lack of oxygen. I accidentally took in a gulp of the icy salt water around me and choked.

 _So this is how I'm going to die?_

Air bubbles swirled around my body and the current pulled me around like a rag doll. The water was so cold it burned, making me feel as if my body was encased in fire. My head spun, and the only thing I could think was _no… no… no…_

I caught a lungful of air when I was pushed from the surface, but my small bit of luck didn't last long. I saw the sky for a short second, and then the sea slammed me into the jagged black rocks.

It hurt. A lot. I heard the sickening cracking and snapping of bones and the pain filled my mind until what little vision I had went black around the edges.

Remember how I said earlier that I was only _sort of_ wrong? Well… here comes the 'sort of'. After I hit that rock, things got weird. My heart beat wildly, erratically, with no rhythm whatsoever. And then… it stopped. I stopped breathing. My heart stopped beating. I was dead. But… still alive. Somehow. I looked at the sky, and it seemed to dissolve, crumbling apart until a new image materialized. It was a lobby. A small, fancy lobby. There were people milling around, chattering to one another in dry, wispy voices, not quite forming recognizable words, or at least not that I could tell. A closer look told me that they weren't actually people. When I looked at them, their skin seemed almost translucent. I could see their _skulls_. Through their skin. They were _spirits._ This isn't a place on Earth. It _can't_ be.

A sign on the lobby desk read 'Welcome to the Underworld! Please take a seat.' _Way to be subtle,_ I thought. I couldn't believe it.

So right now, a normal reaction would be to be scared. Terrified, even. But I am not normal. I jumped off a cliff. For a _dare._ And for some reason, this all felt very familiar.

Apparently, I had been staring at everything for a long time, because I heard an impatient, ' _ahem'_ behind me.

I whirled around, and saw a man. He had chocolate-colored skin and dyed blond hair. Now, I have dyslexia, so I've never been good with reading. But this guy's name tag was written in _cursive._ That was like _murder_ on my eyes.

"Uh- er… is your name… Chiron?" I finally stuttered. I probably shouldn't have said that. His eyes narrowed and he sighed, obviously irritated.

"Young lady, are you by any chance dyslexic?" He asked, in a monotone.

" Umm, yes. Yes, sir."

"A.D.H.D, too?"

My cheeks warmed and I felt a blush creeping up my neck. I didn't like to talk about these things… but I answered anyway.

"Yes, sir, I am." I mumbled.

"Ah… I see. Now, young lady, do you know why you're here?" He questioned. I shrugged.

"No, sir, I don't." I was starting to get a little frustrated. I hated when people call me things like 'young lady'. I mean, I'm _15._

"Well, young lady, please, explain to me _what exactly_ were you _doing_ that ended with you arriving _here_ of all places?"

This was going to be embarrassing.

"I sort of… jumped off a cliff ?" The ending of my sentence went up like I was asking a question. "But I wasn't trying to kill myself or anything!" I explained quickly. "It was for a dare." That didn't sound much better.

"You… jumped off of a cliff… for… a _dare_?" Charon asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. I thought I would make it."

"Well, young lady, you didn't. As you can see, you're in the waiting room of the _Underworld._ "

I looked at him questioningly.

"That's another thing," I said. "Is this _really_ the Underworld? Like, _the_ Underworld?"

Charon sighed again.

"Yes."

"Well, then…how am I still alive?"

"You're not."

"Yes. I am. When my heart stopped beating, back at the beach, I could still see and hear. I _am_ alive."

Charon looked nervous. He pulled at the collar of his dress shirt, and fanned his face with his hand.

"You _know_ something. What is it?" I asked.

"This is _not_ good. No. Not at all. The last time this happened…" Charon murmured to himself quietly, but I caught bits and pieces. "Broke the oath… they all have… what am I to do with…"

He was interrupted by a loud voice.

"CHARON." the sound boomed throughout the lobby. The spirits covered their ears and began to wail. Charon looked up, panicked.

"Ye-yes, my lord?" Charon said.

"LEAVE HER TO ME." the voice demanded.

"Yes, m-my lord." Charon said, sloppily bowing and rushing away into a back room.

I watched him go before turning towards the sound of the voice, annoyed. I'd met people like him before, people who thought they were better than others, and like making them feel insignificant. Who did he think he was?

"RAVEN." the voice spoke.

"What do you want? You can't just boss everyone around like that. What's wrong with you?" I said, narrowing my eyes. I wasn't even concerned that he knew my name. A mass of black began forming in the middle of the lobby. It seemed as if all the shadows in the room were solidifying in front of spirits wailed and bowed down.

A dark-haired man suddenly walked out of the cloud. He wore black robes that flowed like water when he moved. Power radiated from him.

"You sound just like your mother." He said, a small, sad half-smile flitted across his face. His voice was soft, and low.

"How would you know?" I asked.

"You'll have to find camp soon. You'll understand then. I promise."

"I don't even know you! Why should I trust you?" I said.

He stepped forward and touched my forehead. His hand felt like ice.

"Be brave." He said.

"What-?" I started. I couldn't finish. The man had somehow sent me back to the beach.

I was on the rough sand, and Andy was crouched next to me. His eyes were filled with worry. And tears. I gasped, then coughed up what felt like a gallon of water

"Raven! Oh gosh… you stopped breathing! I thought I lost you! I'm so, so sorry Raven! I should _never_ have dared you to do this. Oh gosh…"

"Hey…" I croaked. My mouth was dry and my head was pounding. I frowned, cleared my throat, and tried again.

"Hey. It's fine. _I'm_ fine. Okay?" That's better. "Help me up?" I asked. Andy nodded, still crying. I reached my hand out, and he helped me stand. He brushed the sand from my back. I had to lean against him to keep from falling. We slowly shuffled towards Andy's car, a dark blue pick up truck. He opened the door, and helped me in. I leaned my head against the cool window. _Who was he? What was he talking about?_ I didn't figure that the camp he had mentioned was anything good. _What should I do now?_ Questions bounced in my head. Unfortunately, I had no answers.

Andy and I drove in silence. At least, for awhile. Andy broke it.

"R-raven?" he questioned. I looked over at him, slightly bothered that he interrupted my silence.

"I-I'm really sorry." he said. Guilt was written across his features.

"You're forgiven." I replied, grinning to try to lighten the mood, but failing, as I had a coughing fit before I could continue. "Besides, cliff diving is really cool. The jumping part, I mean." Andy returns the smile. The silence continues.

I try to relax, as I just freaking _died_ , but of course, my luck isn't that great. We're halfway to my house when a car slams into the side of Andy's pick up. I yelp, and wrench around in my seat, trying to get a better look at who did it. I can't see much, as the driver's sunglasses take up half the face, but I see that he is male, and wears a determined look on his face, which is heavily scarred. His jet black car smashes into our car again, on the passenger side. On _my_ side. Andy's car swerves, and we're heading straight for a tree. The man knocks us with his car one last time, and we crash into the forest.

"Andy!" I shriek. I see his terror-stricken face, and the blur of green and brown out the windows of the car, before we smash into a tree. I remember feeling weightless, then a searing pain in my head. I remember thinking that I hadn't known there was so many different kinds of pain until today. Then I blacked out.

I wake with a pounding headache. My hair is covering my eyes. I feel dizzy. I go to move my hair, but jerk my hand away quickly as a splitting pain jolts through behind my eyes. Blood covers my fingertips where they touched my head, and I groan. I try to get up, but my ankle burns with pain and can't support my weight. I sink to the ground. _Andy,_ I think. I hear a noise, it sounds like twigs snapping. I turn behind me just in time to see Andy rolling over on the forest floor. His features are almost completely covered in blood.


	2. Half-Bloods and Hellhounds

"No. Andy? Andy, wake _up_!" I say urgently. I crawl over to him, trying not to jostle my ankle too much. Every step I take hurts. I reach out and shake his shoulder, insistently. He doesn't wake. I am _seriously_ panicking now. What's going to happen to him? He's all I have, except for my dog Ebony at home. But talking to a greyhound isn't exactly the same as confiding to a person.

"Help!" I shout. I'm desperate now. I need help. From _anybody_. "Help! Please!"

I can hear a car approaching on the highway. I limp towards the road, wincing and waving my arms. I keep yelling, and the car slows. _Yes!,_ I think. It pulls over to the shoulder of the road and I see that it is a white van with the words 'Delphi Strawberry Service' on the side. The driver quickly rolled down the window. His striped Rasta cap is pulled over curly brown hair, and he wears an orange T-shirt with black lettering.

"Please!" I said. "I need help. My friend and I got in a car crash and-"

"I know." He interrupted. "Listen. I have to get you and your friend away from here. I'm surprised they haven't come back for you yet. We _have_ to get to camp."

"You know about this camp, too? What is it? Who are 'they'? Who are _you?_ "

"I can't explain right now. Please hurry! I'll help you with your friend, but you _need_ to get in the car." He sounds alarmed. A faint howling sound starts in the distance… like a pack of wolves. The boy in the car pales at the noise.

"Who are you? Can you at least tell me that?" I ask, as the he pushes the door open.

"Fine! I'm Grover Underwood. Keeper. I need to get you to camp. _Now._ " He was completely out of the car now. But-but… wait. He's got… _goat legs_?

"Wha… what the he- what are _those_?" I sputtered. Grover looked down and sighed, as if he'd explained this one before.

"I'm a satyr. Half human, half goat. You'll learn more when we get to camp. Now, where's your friend?"

"Jus-just over the hill." I said warily. My eyes were wide.

" Okay, I'll get him. But first, you're hurt. Eat this. It'll fix your ankle enough so you can walk." He handed me a square of… something. But I was kind of desperate. And my ankle really _was_ starting to bother me. Like, a lot. I stuffed the square in my mouth. It tasted like muffins. The kind that Andy's mom made when I spent the night over at his house. I stared at Grover walk down the hill for a few seconds before following.

"It's called ambrosia." Grover called over his shoulder. "It'll mend your ankle a little, but not completely. We'll take care of it back at camp."

Grover had slung Andy over his back, and though he looked strong, carrying all that dead weight has to be tough. I went over and grabbed hold of Andy's arms, hooking my hands across his chest.

With my help, Grover began to move faster. The howls were sharper, clearer now. Closer.

"Oh no, oh no, no. This _can't_ be happening." Grover moaned. We are at the top of the hill. I look to the right. Nothing. But when I looked to the left, my mouth fell open slightly. Standing, blocking the street, were three _enormous_ dogs. If you could even call them that. Each approximately the size of a large rhino, they stared at us. Their fur was black, and their eyes were dark red, cold and calculating. These things… they were _smart_. And they were looking straight into my eyes.

"Not the hell hounds _again._ " Grover said. I had expected him to be cowering in fear, but instead he just looked tired. Oh sure, he was scared. I could tell. But he had buried his fear.

As if triggered by Grover's words, the middle dog growled, and began slinking forwards. The others followed immediately. Now, I thought I was going to die. But a few seconds after the hounds made a move, I heard a different sound. A bark, more urgent than vicious, like the hell hounds had been. But I _knew_ that bark. I'd recognize it anywhere.

"Ebony?" I called. My dog leaped from the green shrubs at the edge of the forest. Her sleek, jet black fur was full of twigs and dirt. She turned toward the oncoming pack, and growled. That was her warning signal. I had heard Ebony plenty of times before, but I had never understood what exactly she was growling at. But now… now I got it.

" _Monsters._ " I whispered. Saying it out loud made all this _real_ somehow. Like before I was just dreaming and now I had woken up. Grover glanced over at me curiously.

The devil dogs got closer. Ebony tensed, the sprung at them wildly. Was-was she… growing? She was! My average sized greyhound grew just as big as those creepy hounds, maybe even a little larger. Her warm brown eyes turned crimson. Her fangs sunk into the neck of the lead dog, turning it into a puddle of shadow, black as pitch against the light grey of the concrete. The other canines howled and turned on Ebony, hatred filling their eyes. But Ebony didn't back down. Grover turned to me, his mouth slightly opened.

"Is she yours?" he asked.

"Uh huh." I was scared now. Even though Ebony was _clearly_ able to take care of herself, she was still my dog. I didn't want her to get hurt.

"Did you know?" he whispered.

"No." I was… I didn't know how to feel. The right word came to me. Overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed. I had no idea what was going on, I was lost, my only brother was unconscious, a goat boy was taking me to a random camp, and my dog was being attacked. And I was just so _tired._

Ebony had taken out two out of the three hell hounds, but she was limping, and didn't look like she was going to be able to take on the third. Grover realized this about the same time I did, and rushed to help. I held up a _still_ unconscious Andy, while he springs forward with a wooden club. Just as the hell hound was leaping at Ebony, he smacked it away, but that only made it angry. It came back growling louder than ever, and it was now targeting Grover as well as Ebony.

I knew I had to act. I couldn't just let my dog and a potential…what? Ally, maybe? Anyway, I couldn't just let them _die_.

Creeping forward, in the canine manor of the devil dog in front of me, I look the hell hound in it's blood-red eyes. I smirk at the way it's rhythmic growl falters slightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Grover slowly and quietly loading Andy and Ebony into the car. I concentrate on the problem in front of me. Literally. Right in front of me. I was about a foot from the dog's face. I look at it again, glaring with anger-filled eyes.

"You will _not_ hurt my friends." I command in a low, confident voice. The dog shrinks away from my words. "Go back to where you belong. You will not touch me. You will not touch my friends. _Go_."

At my last word, the pavement below the hell hound cracks, and opens to display a dark chasm. Ancient voices spiral up, sounding like the rustling of dry leaves across the ground, calling to the devil dog, forcing it back to where it came from. Where that is, I do not know. The chasm swallows the hell hound and the street slams together again, leaving a ten foot long scar on the road.

I turn to look behind me, and Grover is gaping. But not at me, at something above my head. I glance up in time to see a glowing black skull fade into nothingness.

"What is _that_?" I exclaim.

"Jeez, Raven! What a day _you're_ having. You fight off a hell hound _without freaking touching it_ , and then you get claimed by Hades?"

"Hades is my _dad_? Like _the_ Hades? God of death and all that?"

"I'll tell you everything on the way to camp, but we really have to go. There will be more where that came from. Soon." He said. I nodded.

Once we had strapped Andy into the back, (who was still unconscious) and positioned Ebony next to him, I sat in shotgun and Grover took the wheel.

"Well," he said. "You having a hell hound for a pet does explain why you were almost never attacked by any other monsters. What's your name, by the way?"

"Raven Nerezza." I reply. "How far away is this camp?"

"Not far, since you already live in New York. Camp Half Blood. It's on Long Island Sound."

"Oh." I say. "How come I've never heard of it before?"

"Well it's not something we advertise to just anyone. Only to demigods. Like you."

"What is a _demigod_?"

"Half human, half god." Grover replied, scratching the back of his neck.

"Are you _freaking kidding me_?"

"No, I'm not." Grover replied. I was kind of awed. But also angry. Why hadn't my father, the all-powerful _Hades_ , helped me? Why hadn't he saved me from my mom when she was staring off into space, not caring that I was starving? When my grandma died? When my _brother_ died? When I had been bullied so bad I thought about ending it all?

"Huh." I said, not exactly trusting my voice.

"I know how you feel." Grover said. I thought he was just saying it to be nice, but then he continued. "Seriously. I _know_ how you feel. Satyrs can read emotions. I know that you're tired, too. So if you just want to sleep, that's fine. You can ask questions later. And at camp, you can go to the infirmary to get your injuries looked at. And you can… wash the blood off."

I smiled gratefully before folding my arms against the window and laying my head on them, forming a sorry excuse for a pillow. But I wasn't really in the position to be picky. I fell asleep quickly afterwards.


	3. Memories and Meetings

I woke to Grover's hand shaking my shoulder. His Rasta cap was off, revealing two small horns. Whoa. We were parked at the bottom of a steep hill, with the biggest pine tree I had ever seen at the top. Hanging from one of the lower hanging branches was a golden rug. No, not a rug. A fleece. At the base of the tree, curled around the trunk, was a dragon. A freaking _dragon_! What kind of camp _was_ this?

Grover looked mildly amused by surprised expression, and when I saw him I scowled and crossed my arms. But there were more important things to think of. First, my leg has a huge gash in it that's dripping blood. And second, where exactly was Andy? I decided to ask the latter first.

"Grover? Where's Andy?" I knew the answer was nothing good, judging by the immediate discomfort that showed up on his face.

"I-I… ummm, maybe you should head down to the infirmary, your leg looks pretty ba-" Grover began. I cut him off.

"I'll be fine." I said, a dangerous look creeping into my eyes. "Where. Is. Andy?"

"He-he's in the infirmary, getting healed… but wait! I don't think you should go down there." Grover said, trying to block me from getting past him.

"And… why is that?"

"Because…" Grover said hesitantly. "Because he won't remember you."

"What?" My voice was low.

"Well, he woke up. A few hours ago, actually. I let you sleep for a while, you seemed really out of it. Anyway… when Andy woke up, he seemed confused, like, more so than he should be. The healers realized pretty quickly… that h-he lost his memory. It doesn't look like he'll be getting it back anytime soon. I'm sorry Raven."

"Oh. _Oh._ " Not Andy. It couldn't be Andy. Not the Andy I'd spent _hours_ talking and listening to. Not my _best friend_. We told each each other everything. He'd listened when nobody else would. Our father went missing years ago. I never met him. Our mother was always at "work". "Work" meant that she was out drunk. Or maybe just staring at a wall or ceiling, tears leaking in a steady stream from her eyes, not realizing what was going on around her, not knowing or recognizing my attempts at waking her up from her stupor. She was affected the most by my father's "disappearance". She was never there for me. But Andy was. When my brother died last year, Andy was there. When our grandma, who I was closer to than probably anyone else, passed away three years ago, Andy was at my side. My family was a wreck... I had no one. No one but Andy. And now… he was gone. All that was gone.

"Are-are you okay?" Grover asked quietly.

"No. But I will be. I'll get over it. You'd be surprised at what I can get over."

"Oh. Well, okay. You know, you can always talk to me if you need to, right?"

"Okay. I guess I'm ready to go to camp then." I had nothing with me but the clothes I was wearing, and those were tattered and dirty.

Grover led me over the hill. It was the second time in twenty four hours that I was leaning on another person, relying on them to help me. I didn't like it. I always thought that relying on people was a stupid, because in the end, they'll just leave. Like Andy did. Like my brother and my mom did. It's just another way to get hurt.

As Grover and I walked towards what Grover said was the 'Big House', campers started coming out of their cabins. Now, I know I'm new at all this, but it seemed like there was a cabin for each god or goddess. Everybody was staring, which I hated, and it made me blush. I hated that, too. Well, I'm not sure what I was expecting. I was a mess.

I pushed open the door to the Big House. It smells like dust and grapes. No, it's too sour to be grapes… wine.

"Chiron!" Grover calls.

"Wait, what are you- you mean _the_ Chiron?" I say to him. "Whoa…" I gasped as Chiron walked in the room, full centaur form. It _is_ him. The one from the Greek myths! But they clearly aren't myths. I wonder how many other things I've never believed in are real.

"Her name is Raven." Grover says.

"Ah, a new camper." Chiron says, looking at me kindly before turning to Grover and asking him a question.

"Did you get any sort of reading on her?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Chiron, she was claimed on the way here. She was claimed by… by Hades."

To say Chiron was shocked was an understatement. But all he did was purse his lips and reply, "Mr. D will be interested in this when he gets back. I'll have to Iris Message him later. We shall discuss this in a moment Grover. Call Percy and ask him to take Raven to the infirmary. She'll need to stay for a few days."

"No!" I exclaim. "I-I don't _want_ to go there. My _best friend_ is there, and he doesn't even _remember_ me!"

"I'm sorry."Chiron replied. "I heard about that. But it's the only way you can be healed properly. That gash in your leg is a serious wound."

"Fine." I say. "I'll go. Call Percy. But I don't want to see Andy. At least not right now." I say. Chiron nods solemnly.

Grover goes to the doorway and calls for Percy. A tall boy with windblown black hair and eyes the color of the sea walks into the room. He looks me in the eyes, and holds out a firm hand. I take it.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon."

"Raven. Raven Nerezza. Daughter of Hades." I feel a bit self conscious. The first few years of my life, I lived in England, where I was born. My accent has faded quite a bit since then, and now it's barely noticeable. But it stands out here.

I look Percy over, sizing him up. Not in a weird way, no. Just seeing how much of a threat he may be. He's strong, yeah, and looks like he could be dangerous. I'm guessing only when he gets angry. His goofy grin makes him look sweet and gentle.

"Whoa. You're my cousin!"

"Really? That's all you have to say?" I ask, rolling my eyes. Percy smiles. "It might be rare, but you're not all that different from any other demigod."

"She kind of is." Grover put in. "She sent a hell hound straight back to the Underworld just by telling it to leave, and then the road started cracking and the hell hound was just swallowed up! It was so cool!"

"You're kidding me, G-man." Percy replied, looking between the both of us for signs of lying. "You just earned some massive respect," he told me.

"Thanks." I laughed quietly. Percy's eyes snapped back to me and he said, "Jeez, you don't look so good, Raven."

"Thanks for reminding me." I say sarcastically. Percy just laughs.

"You remind me of my friend Nico." he smiles. I glare at him. "I think your glare is better than his, too! He won't be happy about that."

"Can you not see that I'm _bleeding out_ on the carpet, Percy?" I sigh.

"Oh, right." His brow furrows. "Can you walk?"

"Of course I can walk!" I snap. "I'm not crippled!" I try to take a few steps, but then collapse against the wall. I blush a little as Percy and Grover chuckle. I can't believe I fell over.

"Come on, Cripple." Percy jokes. He throws me over his shoulder like a sack of flour. He walks the distance to the infirmary, ignoring my protests.

"Percy! I'm getting blood all over your shirt."

"I don't care, I'll get a new one."

A blonde, athletic-looking girl runs toward us. She's tan, like Percy, and has stormy grey eyes. She addresses me first, a big smile on her face.

"Hello! You must be Raven. Grover told me. I'm Annabeth, by the way. Daughter of Athena. Sorry about my boyfriend." She says the last part teasingly. Percy pouts at her, causing her to snort. "What exactly are you doing, Seaweed Brain?"

"Well, Wisegirl, I was just carrying Raven to the infirmary. Since when she tried to walk, she fell over." I punch him in the arm lightly.

"Shut up." I grumble.

"I'd hurry, if I were you." She says to Percy. "Raven's losing a lot of blood." I know, because I felt light-headed and I was slightly shaking. I was probably paler than normal.

"I have some people for you to meet later, okay Raven?" she says. I just grunt in response. I think I'm passing out. Just as my vision turns black, I heard Annabeth speak.

"You know Seaweed Brain, she really does look like Nico."


	4. Siblings and Sorrys

This time when I woke up, it was dark outside, and I was in what looked like a hospital room. I was hooked up to at least four machines, but the only one I could recognize was the heart monitor, and it was beeping steadily. A clock on the wall told me it was about two in the morning. Somebody was sleeping in a chair next to my cot. Must be the doctor. I can't go back to sleep. I can't. Instead, I wonder about the people I left behind. Andy, he must be here. I can't believe I let him go so quickly. It's not like he was ever going to get his memory back, so what else could I do? I felt heartless. A tear streaked down my face and I shivered underneath my thin blanket. I thought of my mom. I realized I hadn't thought about her almost all day. Why should I? It's not like she was worried about me. I doubt she'd even realized I was gone. But still, she was my mother, so I'd have to contact her somehow. Soon.

Eventually, I fell asleep. About two hours later.

* * *

Somebody was shaking my shoulder. I was scared for a second, so yelping, I lashed out, punching the air. No, not the air. My fist collided with something hard.

"Ow!" Someone shouted. My eyes flew open. It was the boy from last night, the one sleeping in a chair.

"Sorry." I muttered, avoiding his sky blue eyes. He was tall, blond, and tan. And he was wincing and massaging his arm from where I hit him.

"S'okay." He replied. "You've got quite a right hook. I'm Will, by the way." He continued. "What did you _do_ yesterday? You looked _horrible_. No offense, of course." He winked.

"Ha, ha. And yesterday, I drowned, died, came back to life, then got into a car crash. I'm Raven, by the way." I said casually. Will's mouth hung open and his eyes were wide.

"Jeez!" he exclaimed. "How did you drown?" I told him all about the dare, and he looked upset.

"That's not safe! You should never do something like that without a parent or guardian, or at the very least, someone who actually knows what they're doing! Did you even think about the consequences?" He lectured me for awhile about the dangers of cliff diving and used a bunch of medical words I didn't know. I kind of zoned out after the first bit of it though.

Somebody else walked into my hospital room. A girl, with choppy brown hair braided with feathers and kaleidoscope eyes. She caught my eye and grinned at me.

"Will, calm down with the lectures! Raven needs to rest."she said. I mouthed a quick 'thank you'.

"But Piper! It's important! And she wouldn't need to rest if she hadn't _jumped off a cliff_!" Will protested.

"You did?" says Piper. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah." I say with a small smile. "It would have been, if I hadn't died. But I'm back! So it's okay." I finish hurriedly. Piper frowns.

"What do you mean you _died_?" she asks.

"Well, I went to the Underworld. Or at least the waiting room, at least. I talked to Charon. Then some other guy who kept telling me that I reminded him of my mom." I avoided eye contact with both of them, and I felt myself flush. All this attention was making me uncomfortable. Piper and Will shared a wary look.

"Will?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Can I leave now? I'm bored." I say.

"What? No! You're still injured. You'll have to wait a few days. Doctor's orders."he replies.

"But I'm fine!"

"Can you walk?" Will asked, now with an amused expression.

"Probably." I say.

"Fine." Will says. "If you can show me you can walk, you can leave. Go ahead."

"Okay." I take a deep breath, then sit up. My head is already spinning. I swing my legs out of bed, letting them dangle off the side of the cot.

"I need clothes." I imagine myself walking around in the light green hospital gown I was wearing-how about no.

Schist. Somebody had to put me in this thing. I blushed. Piper interrupted.

"Annabeth and I went back to your house and got some of your clothes for you." She handed me a orange backpack filled with my clothes. "We also got you a camp shirt. Don't worry, nobody was in the house, so we didn't get caught."

"Thanks." I say. I spot the clothes I came to camp in on a chest of drawers. "Can I wear those for now?"

"Sure." Piper says. "Come on, Will." She hands me the clothes, and they step out of the room. I get dressed as quickly as possible, being injured and all. Then I slowly lower myself to the cold tile ground. I slip on my favorite shoes, a worn pair of black combat boots. I'm dizzy, but at least I'm on my feet. I inch towards the door, leaning on anything I can to keep myself upright. When I get to the door, my body is shaking. My quivering hand turns the doorknob. It swings open, and I see Piper and Will with their mouths hanging open. I smirk at them, and walk past. I am literally on the verge of collapsing, but I force myself to keep moving.

Will runs in front of me, hands out.

"How did you-wait! You can't leave."He says.

"Why not? You said if I can walk, I can go." I frown.

"Yeah but I didn't actually think that you'd be able to!"

"Well here I am! Walking away!"

"No." Will says. I freeze. Turning around slowly, I give him my best death glare. He nervously steps back. Piper still stands by the door, stationary.

"You shouldn't have said that, Will." she whispers. I ignore her.

 _ **~Will~**_

"What. Did. You. Say?" She asks me. Her voice is quiet and deadly. Raven scares me. A lot. Her glare is worse than Nico's, and that's saying something.

"I-I said… no?" I hate that it sounds like a question. Raven's fists clench, and her already black eyes somehow turn darker.

" _You_ are not allowed to tell _me_ what to do." She spits the words out. I'm concerned now. The room is getting darker, though it's early morning.

"Raven, please! You're not ready to leave yet." I plead.

Percy and Annabeth enter the infirmary, but they don't see the situation.

"Hey Will." Annabeth says. "We just wanted to check on Rave- oh my gods!" She exclaims as she sees Raven. I was hoping Raven would get distracted and I could get her back to her room. As scary as she looks, she's been asleep for about four days with nothing to eat. She's deathly pale, and wouldn't be too hard to get her back into her cot. But unfortunately, her eyes stay fixed on me, the way a wolf might stare down a rival. Raven edges closer to me, her face a foot from mine. She points a finger in my face.

"What, exactly, makes you think, that you have a say, over what _I_ do?" She asks.

"Ummm… I…" I have no idea what to do. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Piper motion for Percy to grab Raven. He nods, then stealthily moves towards her, and grabs her upper arms. She yelps in surprise, but quickly recovers, kicking him in the leg. It hurts, I can tell. Percy drops her and Raven fumes angrily. It seems like the shadows in the room gravitate in her direction, and the room's temperature drops. I see one of my siblings, another child of Apollo, and mouth 'call for help'. He quickly nods and runs out. A minute later, he comes back with Jason and Clarisse. Percy has recovered from the kick, and they finally manage to restrain Raven. It takes all three of them.

* * *

 _ **~Raven~**_

I'm walking towards Cabin 13, which is where I will live when I'm at camp. One of the people who restrained me a few minutes earlier, Clarisse, was explaining to me about an oath that the Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, made. Their children were too powerful, so they swore not to have any more children. Apparently, that had already been broken, resulting in Percy, Thalia, … and now, me.

There were more children of Hades, she told me, named Nico di Angelo, and his sister Bianca. But Bianca had died on a quest, roughly six years ago. Hazel Levesque was daughter of Pluto, Hades' Roman form, so technically, she hadn't broke the oath. But knowing that I was a mistake obviously didn't make me feel any better.

"Nico's not here right now, he's training in the sword fighting arena." Clarisse said, as we approached Cabin 13."But he'll probably be back soon. Hazel's in there, though. Some of the Romans came to visit. So… I'll just let you two get to know each other."

I nodded at Clarisse. I had a lot more questions, but I was exhausted. I opened the stone door, and slipped inside. Looking around, I saw that most of the decor was dark colored, but large windows let in a lot of natural light. _I could get used to this_ , I think.

"Nico?" A soft voice calls.

"Nope. Just me." I say. A girl walks up to me. She has dark skin and cinnamon-colored hair. Her golden eyes look straight into mine.

"Hi." she says. "I'm Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. And you?"

"Raven Nerezza. Daughter of Hades. I guess I'm your new half sister."

Her face lights up and she pulls me into a hug. I momentarily stiffen, caught by surprise, but quickly relax.

"Well now it's time for a little sister bonding time." She grins, taking my hand and leading me over to her bed. I feel sort of uncomfortable, because I don't like sharing things about myself. Whenever I tell people about my past, they always look at me like I'm a kicked puppy, and try to give me their fake sympathy. But Hazel is so inviting, and I feel like I can tell her everything. So I do. But I don't let her know how much pain I'm in, physically _and_ emotionally. I leave out the part when my brother died, because I don't want to cry. She tells me her story, too. And it feels like I've known her for years instead of just hours. She's definitely my favorite person at camp so far.

Eventually, there's a gentle knock at the door.

"Hazel? Are you in there?" A voice calls. Hazel looks excited.

"You get to meet Nico now!" she whispers to me, grinning. "Yeah! Come on in!" She says, raising her voice a bit louder. The doorknob rattles a little before the door swings open. A boy walks in, and I think that he reminds me of myself. We both look similar, dark eyes, dark hair, black clothing, pale skin.

 _ **~Hazel~**_

When Nico walks in the cabin, I'm interested to know what his reaction to Raven will be.

"Who's this?" he asks me curiously.

"Our new sister!" I squeal. Nico breaks into a rare grin.

"Really?" he smiles.

"Really." Raven says. She's smiling, too. Nico almost never smiles, but when he does, it's contagious. "I came here a few days ago apparently, but I was passed out in the infirmary…"

"Oh. Well when were you claimed?"

"On the way to camp. But that was a few days ago, I think." Raven looks a little guilty. "I kind of made a huge mistake… see, this morning, I wanted out of the infirmary… I didn't like to be cooped up and I made a deal with Will, I don't know if you know him…" I notice Nico's cheeks colored slightly at the mention of Will's name. He's had a crush on him for almost two years, now. They've been subtly flirting with each other, but they've never told each other about how they feel. It's infuriating. Raven continues.

"Well anyway, he made a deal with me and told me that if I could walk, I could leave. So I forced myself not to fall over. But Will said that I wasn't fully healed, so I couldn't leave. I guess I got sort of mad, and I freaked out on him, and it took Percy, Jason, and Clarisse to keep me from hurting someone, I guess. I really messed up… I don't know if I scared them or something… I feel really bad."

I could tell that she meant it. I was also strangely impressed that it took three people to hold her back. Nico wasn't exactly used to giving _or_ receiving hugs, and neither was Raven. But Nico walked over to her and gave her a hug anyway. I thought that was sweet.

"Hey." he said to Raven. "I know that this is a lot to take in… but everything will be okay. I'm sure nobody will be mad or anything. We can fix it, all three of us, together." he said, motioning for me to come and join them.

"Thank you." Raven said.

"Let's go to dinner." I suggest. "Raven hasn't eaten all day, and I'm sure you skipped a meal today, Nico." He smiles sheepishly.

The three of us get up, and head down to the dining pavilion. I see Raven wince slightly as the people who were present during 'the incident' avoid her eyes when she walks past. Nico and I walk next to her, like bodyguards. As we pass the Apollo table, Nico taps Will on the shoulder and waves him over to join us. I do the same with Annabeth, Percy, Piper, Clarisse, Piper, and Jason.

We all sat at the Hades table. Jason and Percy looked completely comfortable, probably due to the fact that Nico had freaked out on them before and the situation was similar. Annabeth and Piper looked pretty at ease too, as well as Clarisse. Will looked pretty nervous, though. I guess that's understandable. Raven's anger _was_ directed at him. By the look on his face, Raven could clearly be pretty scary when she was mad.

"Ummm… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry Will. I-I didn't mean to freak out like that.I know you were just trying to do what's best for me." Raven said. He looks up and smiles.

"It's cool." He says. " I know that the first few days are tough, and I'm not mad. We're fine."

"Thank you." Raven replies gratefully, before turning to Percy. "I'm sorry for kicking you, Percy. I don't know what came over me."

"You're fine." Percy says with a grin. "Besides, it's better than what you did to Will." Everyone glances in Will's direction and sees a bruise on his arm.

"Oh, right. Again, sorry about that." Raven says guiltily. Nico looks concerned.

"What happened?" He questions, brushing his cold hand against the mark. Will's face is dusted with a light blush. Jason and Percy look at each other happily at their exchange. I'll have to ask them about that later.

"This morning I accidentally scared Raven while trying to wake her up. So she punched me. I'm fine, though. It doesn't hurt anymore." He winks at Raven. She grins.

"And I'm sorry to the rest of you, if I scared you or anything." Everybody reassured her that they weren't mad or scared. Raven's smile got bigger.

"You should meet my boyfriend Frank." I say to her. "He's at the Roman camp right now, though,so you'll have to see him when he comes to visit. Nico will introduce you to the people from here, and when Reyna and Frank visit, you can meet them.""

"Sounds good." Raven replies. She seems happier now that she knew nobody was angry with her.


	5. Lost and Found

_**~Raven~**_

Everybody loves Ebony. Especially Mrs.O'Leary. She and Ebony play together all the time, chasing each other, playing fetch the practice dummy, etc.

It was about two days ago that I brought Ebony into camp. Two days is a lot of time when it comes to formulating a plan to get your brother a boyfriend. Or at least help Nico and Will tell each other how they feel. I mean seriously! How blind can they be? I had mentioned Will and Nico to Jason, who told Hazel and Percy and Annabeth. They all agreed to help me. I came up with the first part of the plan.

The five of us walked to lunch, Nico and Will trailing slightly behind us, caught up in their own conversation. _This is good_ , I think. My plan wouldn't work if they were in front of us. We hurry ahead and sit at the Hades table.

Nico and Will are still engrossed in their private chat, so they don't notice when I stick my foot into the aisle between tables. Will trips, then flails his arms, grabbing anything to keep himself from falling. That 'something' happened to be Nico's arm, and he was pulled down with him. Nico landed on top of Will, and they stared into each other's eyes, forgetting that they were in a public space. Everyone in the dining pavilion held their breath. Finally, Nico cleared his throat, face burning red.

"Sorry about that." He muttered to Will, standing up and brushing off his jeans before extending a pale hand to the blond-haired boy.

Will takes it, speechless. Both their eyes are as wide as the moon. I smirk, then try to compose myself before either of them see. But Nico catches my eye and narrows his. He takes my wrist in a death grip and steers me over to the edge of the forest.

"What was _that_?" He hisses.

"You tell me." I say, raising my eyebrows. "Yeah, I tripped Will but you two didn't have to have a cheesy chick flick moment, staring into each other's eyes. You were on top of him for at least a minute. What was _that_?" Nico won't meet my eyes. I look up at him expectantly.

"I wanted to kiss him really bad." He mutters eventually, staring at the ground. I shriek. Literally. Nico clamps his hand over my mouth.

"Shut up, will you?" He whispers. I shove his hand away.

"Sorry, sorry. But that was the cutest thing I've heard somebody say. Like, ever."

Nico blushes.

"I'm gonna help you. You like Will, and I'm gonna help you tell him."

"I-I don't-I can't… I can't tell him! What if he doesn't like me that way? What if I ruin our entire relationship? Oh gods- what if he's not even gay?" Nico rambles. I quickly stop him.

"Nico. Will is _definitely_ gay. Have you _seen_ the way he looks at you? Boys are so oblivious." I say, exasperated.

"Hey! I'm just nervous, that's all. Haven't you ever liked someone before?"

I fall silent immediately. This subject makes me uncomfortable. Back in grade 9, I had a boyfriend. Tyler. I really loved him. A lot. And he loved me. We had been together for maybe a year and a half. Until that horrible agonizing night. I felt myself having a flashback, and gasped as a flood of memories came pouring into my mind.

 _It was Autumn, but the night was still balmy and pleasant. Tyler had gone out with his friends to see a movie. I was in my room, wearing one of Tyler's hoodies and watching Supernatural. I was happy. I thought that nothing could go wrong, that my life was perfect and whole. I obviously spoke too soon. About two hours after Tyler had left for the movie, I got a call from him._

" _What's up, Tyler?" I asked smiling._

" _Raven please. You have to help me." Tyler said, panic and terror evident in his voice._

 _My smile quickly faded. "Tyler? Tyler what's wrong? What's going on?"_

" _There's somebody following me. Everybody else went home already. I-I think he has a gun. Raven please help… I'm scared."_

" _I'm calling the police on the house phone. You'll get help soon." I had stayed on the phone with Tyler throughout my tense conversation with the police._

" _Tyler they'll be there soon. I will, too. Where are you?"_

" _Raven… I don't want you to get hurt."_

" _Tell me." I got the street name out of him, and I ran into my garage. I grabbed my mom's car keys from the peg on the wall, and drove her car out as fast as I could. As soon as I turned onto the street he named, Fulton Street, I saw Tyler running out of an alleyway, looking terrified. I jumped out of the car and screamed his name, trying to lead him over to the car quickly. He looked me in the eye, and mouthed my name. I hear gunfire behind him, and Tyler's scream of terror. I'm crying and crying, so scared for him. None of the bullets hit him though. But Tyler's running into the road now, and a big truck is barreling down the street._

" _Tyler stop! Stop!" My heart skipped two beats, then raced double time. Tyler had stopped in the middle of the pavement, finally seeing the truck that was almost on top of him. His horrified expression just before he was hit will be burned into my mind forever. The right side of the front of the truck slammed into his chest, and sent him crumpling to the concrete. I long, torturous, animal-like howl filled with pain._

 _It was a hit-and-drive. The truck hadn't killed Tyler immediately. The gunner seemed to be gone, too. I tore over to my dying boyfriend, the person I loved more than anything. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, staining his lips, and tears streamed down his face. He looked horrible._

" _Tyler." I said softly. My tears dripped onto his face._

" _Raven." Tyler croaked. "It hurts."_

" _I-I know. I know. But it'll be okay! We'll get you to the hospital and-and then they'll fix you up and i'll stay with you the whole time and-"_

" _Raven. Stop. I'm dying. I'm going to die." Tyler's voice was so quiet I was straining to hear him. "I'm not going to make it. But you'll be okay. You… have you're whole… your whole life ahead of you." It was obviously painful for Tyler to speak. He stuttered and wheezed out the words._

" _But I don't want it without you." I said pathetically._

" _It'll be okay." A minuscule smile played on Tyler's lips._

 _A smile that was frozen by death. His glassy blue eyes stared up at mine, unseeing._

Shortly afterwards, my brother died. That was all _last year_. I winced just thinking about it, and tears blurred my vision, before I pulled myself together.

I scoffed at Nico, trying to seem nonchalant.

"Please. The forces of darkness don't have time for love." I joked. My smile was stiff. "Anyway, if you don't tell Will, I'll have to help. And you won't like that, I promise you."

"Fine." Nico said, rolling his eyes. "But in the meantime, no more tripping Will and I."

"Come on, Nico. You _can't_ tell me you didn't enjoy that, even just a little bit."

"Yes," he says. "I could. But I would be lying." He's grinning widely.

That night, Nico and Hazel had been asking me about some modern things they didn't get. They questioned almost my entire outfit, my shirts, piercings, etc. It had started out as more sibling bonding, but since they had zero knowledge on most of the bands I listened to and shows I watched, it turned into me teaching them about it.

I had a pile of clothes on the ground at my feet, a result of me digging through my drawers to find my collection of concert tickets (most of which had been bought cheap off of eBay).

In the middle of explaining the history of Panic! At The Disco, the three of us heard a knock on the door. Our heads turned towards the sound at the same time.

"Were we expecting anyone?" Nico asks.

"No," I reply. "But it's only 7:00, so it could be anyone."

"Who is it?" Hazel calls.

A muffled voice replies. "It's Will!"

Hazel squeals quietly. As she pushes Nico over to his dressers to get him into some actual clothes, I go to answer the door. I open it as quickly as possible and slide out to the porch, still in my pajamas.

"Yes?" I ask breathlessly. I wince when I hear a few thumping noises coming from inside.

"Is everything okay?" Will questions. His brows pull together.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah! Ev-everything's fine." I reply.

"O… kay? Well, I was just gonna see if Nico wanted to go for a walk-are you sure everything's alright?" Will says, hearing more banging noises from inside and a loud, "OW!"

"Yes! I'll just go… check on them then. Be right back!" I say, slipping back inside.

Nico is hopping around, holding his leg. "Hazel pushed me into the wall!" He exclaimed.

"Well he wasn't listening to me!" Hazel protested holding up one of of Nico's shirts. "Raven! Shouldn't he wear _this_?"

"That looks good." I reply. "Will wants to go on a walk with Nico." I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively, causing Nico's face to turn bright red.

Hazel squeals again, and shoves the shirt at Nico, who grudgingly pulls it over his head. We push Nico out the door.

"Have fun!" Hazel calls.

"But not too much fun!" I yell at the boys.

 _ **~Hazel~**_

Raven and I chat the entire night long. I'm so happy for Nico.

"My face hurts from all this smiling!" Raven says, giggling. She must have surprised herself with the noise because her mouth drops open and she looks shocked. "That-that laugh." She says incredulously. "D-did I just… _giggle_?" She spits the word like poison. I chuckle.

"And?" I say.

"And that's _weird_. I've never made that sound before. In my entire _life_."

I go to open a window and light pours into the room. Raven squints her eyes and leans against the bed. I walk over and sit on the bunk behind her. I start to comb my fingers through her soft, jet black hair. I start to talk as I begin French braiding.

"What's your favorite color?" I ask her. Raven groans playfully. "Are we really doing this?" She asks.

"Yup." I reply firmly. "I know most of your life story, but I don't know all the details." I really was curious about my sister. She mostly keeps to herself, and she is both an introvert _and_ an extrovert, which I think is called being an ambivert. Anyway, she's a mystery.

"Fine." Raven grumbles. "It's black. Like you didn't know that one." She smiles.

"I kind of guessed." I say, looking at one of her many black band T-shirts and black and grey plaid pants. My brow furrows. "What _is_ on your shirt, anyway?"

She looks down at it. "Oh! This one is my favorite band. Fall Out Boy. You should listen to them sometime."

My face lit up. "Yeah! We can have Leo make us something that won't attract monsters." Raven nods enthusiastically. "Yeah. Yeah that sounds great." I can't see her from behind, but I know she's grinning. I finish the French braid and we stand.

"Let's get dressed, and then we can ask Leo after breakfast, 'kay?" I say to her.

We walk to our dresser and I pick out a comfy T-shirt and leggings. Raven grabs the first things she sees, which turn out to be black skinny jeans ripped at the knee and another black shirt, only this one has an image of three good-looking men and reads, 'Supernatural: Join the Hunt'. I'll have to ask her about that later. Her hair looks very nice, pulled away from her face and braided. She flips the braid over her shoulder, and it falls down to her rib cage, leaving out her short side bangs.

I groaned and looked at my own curly hair. It was messy, and in my face. I always wore it down, but it was a real pain to do it every morning.

"Do you need help?" Raven asked. I bit my lip and nodded. Raven walked over and took a hair tie off her wrist.

"You should always carry one of these." My sister explained to me. "It comes in handy a lot of the time." She gathered my cinnamon colored hair into a high ponytail. It looked perfect.

"Whoa." I said. "This actually is _really_ cute."

Raven's eyes sparkled. "Really?"

"Yeah! And it's a nice change, too." I reply, examining my hair from all angles.

"Well, so is the braid. It's really pretty." Raven grins. We link arms at the elbow and march outside.

It's a relatively sunny day, signaling the coming of summer. A cool breeze blows through the dining pavilion, and birds sing in the trees. I think it's about eight in the morning. The only reason Raven is awake right now is because we didn't sleep. Raven _never_ wakes up before eleven most days.

The only one's there are Mr.D, Chiron, and Percy. I'm surprised _he's_ awake, too. Anyway, Percy looks worried, and so does Chiron. Mr.D doesn't but that's probably because he doesn't really worry about the camp.

"What's wrong?" Raven asks. Mr.D waves off the question. "Not to worry Riley." He says.

"Actually, it's Raven-"

"Actually, I don't care." Mr.D replies snarkily. Raven clenches her fists and turned to Percy.

"What's wrong?" She asks him, more insistently this time. Percy shakes his head. "It's just…" He starts. "The Apollo cabin said Will didn't return to his cabin after his walk…have you guys seen Nico?"

What little color is in Raven's cheeks drains immediately. She turns to me, her mouth fallen open in a little 'o' of horror.

"Nico _didn't_ come home!" I exclaim. Raven is silent, looking around with a shocked and slightly dazed look on her face.

"I-I should've made sure… how did I not-he didn't come _home_! And I didn't even _notice_. I'm the worst sister _ever_!" Raven rambles, waving her hands in the air.

"Now, now, Raven. We need to keep a calm and clear head if we are to find the boys. And you two are not to blame." Chiron says calmly, though I can see in his eyes he's scared.

"Yes. Let's not overreact." Mr.D chimes in. "It's just two demigods. It's not like they were worth much anyway."

Before Chiron could tell him that wasn't the proper way to react, Raven exploded.

" _Excuse_ me? That's my brother and one of my best friends you're talking about, you old drunk! If you _ever_ say that again, you _will_ regret it." Raven poked Dionysus's chest with each word, emphasizing her point. She looked absolutely furious. Chiron, Percy and I were shocked into silence, watching the exchange like a tennis match.

"Raven, stop." I say.

But before anybody could continue, Mr.D spoke to Raven, purple fire blazing in his eyes. "Do not disrespect me, _child_. For your arrogance, I curse you. Until you can learn to be appreciative of what I do… what I _am_ … you shall not speak." Mr.D waves his hand in Raven's direction and sends her into a coughing fit.

"Wha-what did you do to her?" Percy asks panicking. I grab Raven's arm. "A-are you okay?" I question frantically.

Raven glares at Mr.D, and then shakes her head and rolls her eyes, as if saying _don't worry about it_. She mimes writing something and Percy stands up quickly.

"Oh-um… paper? And a pencil?" He asks. Raven nods slightly impatiently, like she doesn't understand why this is such a big deal. Percy rushes off and Raven turns to Dionysus.

"Raven… I don't think you should…" My voice trails off.

Raven raises her eyebrows at Mr.D and makes a series of quick hand gestures. Mr.D looks appalled.

"How dare you!" He exclaims. My guess is that it was sign language, but since I can't sign, I'm not sure what she told him, but it can't have been too bad, seeing as Raven's not a pile of ash right now. Chiron looks amused. "Was this all really necessary?" He asks Mr.D.

"Of course! Rachel here-" He's interrupted by Raven making more signing gestures, and then another gesture, which I don't exactly need to know sign language to understand.

"Like I was saying… Yes! It was. Reagan was sassing me. I can't go around letting demigods disrespect me like that, now can I? People would lose all their admiration for me!"

"As if we had any to begin with." Percy grumbles. He's back with Raven's supplies, and he brought Annabeth with him, too, her blonde hair glinting in the light.

"What's the matter?" Annabeth asked, looking at Raven. Raven begins her signing again.

"Again, Mr.D?" Annabeth says exasperatedly.

"Wait… you can actually understand her?" I ask Annabeth.

"Oh, yeah. One of my old friends from kindergarten was deaf, so I learned it so I could chat with her. I guess it payed off."

As the conversation went on, I noticed Raven had been scribbling on the note pad Percy had given her. She held up her home-made sign that read, ' _HEY! MY BROTHER IS MISSING! DO YOU THINK WE COULD TAKE A BREAK FROM THIS NICE LITTLE TEA PARTY AND GO FIND HIM?'_

"Did anybody check the lake?" Annabeth asked. "They might have gone there for some privacy…"

I turned towards Raven, to see what she thought, but she was already gone. How she could run so silently was beyond me…


	6. I Go To Hell

_**~Nico~**_

I was woken by a slap in the face. I jumped up, grabbing my Stygian iron sword off the ground next to me. Shaking sand out of my hair and quickly getting into perfect fighting stance, I expecting to find a monster of some sort. But instead, I was met with a furious Raven. She smacked the sword out of my grip and punched my arm. Hard. This might be worse than an angry monster.

"Ow!" I yelped, stumbling back as Raven tackled me in a hug, burying her face into my shoulder. I have never been more confused in my life. By this time, Will had woken up, and was looking at the two of us, bewildered.

"Wha… what's going on?" Will asked, his voice muffled by a yawn.

"Ummm, I actually have no idea." I said, watching as Raven unlatched herself from me and walked over to Will. She swiftly punched him in the shoulder, too.

"Raven! What have I ever done to you?" He protested. Raven just shook her head and gave Will a bear hug. A tear ran down her face, but was harshly wiped away. Will looked shocked.

"Raven, seriously. What's the matter?"I asked. Raven began a string of hand gestures.

"She said that she thought the two of us were kidnapped due to the fact that neither of us made it home last night." Will informed me before turning back, blushing slightly. Raven narrowed her eyes like a hunter zeroing in on prey and stared at Mr.D, who is walking down to the beach, accompanied by Chiron, Percy and Annabeth, and a tearful Hazel. Raven points at Mr.D accusingly. I look to Annabeth for explanation. I raise my eyebrows.

"Apparently, Raven was 'disrespecting' Mr.D because he said that you and Will weren't important enough to find. Raven's emotions had been running a bit high anyway, due to the fact that she thought you two had been kidnapped or something. All Mr.D did was put a curse on Raven so she won't be able to speak for at least a few hours." Annabeth explained, sending an irritated, yet pointed look in the direction of Dionysus.

"Yes, yes." The god grumbled. "I suppose I could dissolve the curse in a few hours. But it's been nice not hearing her blabbing constantly."

Raven glared at Mr.D as I ruffled her hair. She swatted my hands away before pouting. Then Raven started making different movements with her hands.

"She says she'll need a translator until the curse wears off." Will blurted out, causing Raven to grin slyly at him.

"I guess you're it." I chuckled. "You're gonna have to stay with her all day until she can speak again."

"Hey, you're staying with us, too." Will corrected me.

"Sorry, but I can't. Hades needs me to take care of something in the Underworld for him. Sorry not sorry."

Raven jumped up and down excitedly, her braid bouncing against the back of her band T-shirt. She turned to Will and signed rapidly. Will sighed and said to her, "You know he's never going to let you do that, right?" He glanced in my direction.

"What?" I demanded.

"Raven wants us to go with you to the Underworld. She said she's never seen it and she wants to explore and help you with whatever your dad wants."

"Ummm, I think not." I replied. "I'm not worried so much about Raven, as I think she's established that she can take care of herself…" Raven smirks at that. "But Will, you could get seriously hurt. So Raven, I guess you can go, but Will, you'll have to stay here for a couple hours." I finish, causing Will to pout.

"C'mon, Sunshine," Will whines. "I wanna go too."

"Absolutely not." I said. "And 'Sunshine'? Is that really what you're going with?"

"Please?" He pleaded, giving me his puppy eyes. He knew I would fall for those. Cheater.

I tried to avoid his eyes, so that I couldn't give in to him. Percy and Annabeth smirked, knowing that my attempts were futile. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Fine!" I said. "Fine. But Will, if you die, I'm going to kill you."

"Uh huh. Sure you are Death Boy." Will replied cheekily. I groaned at the new nickname.

"It seems you all have this visit arranged, so we'll be on our way." Chiron said to the three of us. "Good luck."

"Good luck, guys." Annabeth put in, as she and Percy began the walk to the dining pavilion. Chiron and Mr.D walked toward the Big House, talking of starting a game of pinochle before the rest of the campers woke.

I sigh deeply and turn towards Will and Raven.

 _Can we go now?_ Raven signs. _I want to see dad!_ An evil grin spreads across her face.

"We'll have to watch for that." Will tells me. "I know Hades is her dad and all, but I don't think he'd appreciate whatever she's planning." I know what Raven is feeling. After all these years thinking her father had disappeared, then finding out he is a god who could have helped with whatever problems she may have had growing up… it's _natural_ for her to feel angry. I mean, I was, too, but doing something rash is not the best way to keep Hades on your side.

"Yeah." I reply. "Let's go." I grab their hands, about to shadow travel the three of us to the Underworld when Will wrenches his hand out of my grip.

"Nico. We need to eat something first. I'm sure Raven missed breakfast and is hungry, too. Punching people is sure to work up an appetite." Will says, playfully glaring at Raven.

"Aw, c'mon Will! I'm not even hungry." I complain, scowling.

"Doctor's orders." Will says, a grin on his handsome face.

 _That may work on Nico, but I'm not your patient, Will,_ Raven signs smugly. _I'm fine, I'm never hungry in the mornings._

"Too bad for you!" Will crows. " _You_ are now my newest patient. So go eat something. Doctor's orders." A look of disbelief flickers across Raven's features before she forces her face into a neutral expression. _I don't want to,_ she signs stubbornly. _You can't make me._

"Alright. Okay, fine." Will says, taking on a look of fake resignation. Raven turns and pushes me in the direction of the dining pavilion. Will runs up from behind, picking Raven up and throwing her over his shoulder. Raven begins to squirm, kicking Will in the stomach, but it doesn't affect him. I know she can't speak, but she doesn't always need words to express how you feel. At least, Raven doesn't. She smacks Will in the back of the head, messing up his hair and causing him to grin even more than he was. We walk back to the dining pavilion, where everybody with the exception of a few were sitting. Leo glances up from the Hephaestus table and spews coffee all over the person across from him. Like that boy really needs the caffeine.

Leo's outburst caused others to look over, and laughter erupted throughout the pavilion. Raven silenced them with a glare but a few who had never met Raven, or just couldn't hold back their giggles remained chuckling. Grover was over at the Poseidon table with Percy, and he was laughing so hard he began to gasp, clutching at a stitch in his side. Percy watched him with happy eyes, glad to see his best friend acting so joyfully.

Will deposited Raven at her own table and watched with amusement as she glared at him reproachfully. A bowl of cereal appears in front of her.

"Once you finish that, we can go. You too, Nico." Will said as my own bowl materialized on my plate. I picked up my spoon sighing. I was never going to win this fight. Raven seemed to realize this too, as she shoveled a few spoonfuls of her cornflakes into her mouth. But when Will turned away, I saw her dump half of it into the metal brazier for the food sacrifices for the gods.

"What did you just do?" Will asks suspiciously. He had turned around for a minute and now half Raven's food was gone.

 _Nothing_ , Raven signed.

"Whatever, Raven." Will sighed, defeated, as Raven smiled victoriously.

"Can we _please_ go now?" I asked, scooping up my last bite of cereal. I held out my hands for them to take. I felt the shadows wrap around me in a familiar way. It was incredibly exhilarating, yet scary at the same time, similar to the feeling you get while on the climax of a roller coaster.

When the three of us arrived in the Underworld, Will looked around in… awe? That was usually not the emotion people felt when gazing upon my father's realm. Raven had stumbled slightly, then turned to Will and I, her eyes wide as the moon.

 _That was awesome!_ She signed, excitement evident in her body language. _Can we go again?_

"Maybe later," Will chuckled. "Your brother's got some business to take care of, first."

 _Okay…_ Raven signed.

 _ **~Raven~**_

I _was_ pissed about not being able to talk, and all because of Dionysus, the wine dude who doesn't care about us. 'Us' being every demigod that had ever lived.

But the Underworld was _awesome_. Huh. That's a sentence I never thought I would say. I mean, think. We were on the banks of a filthy black river. It's waters churned with debris from spirit's past lives. Ripped diplomas, rings, battered corsages, dolls… these were people's memories. Despite the pollution, I found it strangely beautiful.

I zoned in just in time to hear Nico say, "… and this is the River Styx. Raven? Are you listening? You need to know which places to stay away from so you won't get hurt."

 _Hey, this is my place too, Doom and Gloom. I'll be okay._ I signed as Will translated for me. Nico just rolled his eyes and continued. "Over there is Elysium and the Isles of the Blessed." Elysium looked like a regular neighborhood, with huge, expensive looking houses. The kind my family could never afford. I smelled barbecue and heard children laughing. A family sat down at picnic tables in their backyard. It was… perfect. The Isles of the Blessed were too far away to see, but I knew they would be much better than Elysium, and that was saying something.

"And those… those are the Fields of Punishment."

They were horrible. I saw every kind of punishment and torture imaginable. Wails and howls and screams of pain project over to where the three of us stand. I don't exactly feel like describing what I saw there.

"That's…" Will couldn't seem to find the words. Neither could I. Get it? Because I was cursed… yeah.

Nico cleared his throat. "Well, uh, we should get going to Hades's palace, and you guys can see the Fields of Asphodel afterwards."

Nico led the way to a huge menacing castle made of dark obsidian rock. I nodded appreciatively as Will looked on with amazement. The big silver gates were woven with intricate designs, depicting death and sorrow. Cheerful. The giant silver double doors at the entrance were guarded by two skeleton soldiers dressed in military uniforms, who crossed their weapons when we approached.

"Gentlemen."Nico said in greeting. "We must speak with my father." The undead soldiers uncrossed the rifles and nodded respectfully. The doors swung open silently. We walked inside, our footsteps echoing on the gleaming black rock. The main hallway is cold, and I see Will shiver, despite his weird higher-than-normal body temperature due to the fact that he's Apollo's kid. The cold doesn't bother Nico and I in the slightest. I walked behind Nico and Will.

I was third wheeling hardcore.

We entered the main room, where a gigantic throne made of white bones was seated. Sitting on the throne was the man I saw after I died a few months ago. Hades. He had jet black hair, like mine, that reached just under his ears. His eyes were black as pitch-again, matching mine-and he looked slightly bored. He was extremely pale, almost to the point of unhealthy. I could see the family resemblance. His dark robes seemed to move, as if spirits were trapped inside them. My bottled up anger immediately bubbled to the front of my mind. I pushed through Nico and Will. Marching up to Hades, I fixed him with my coldest, deadliest glare possible.

Nico rushed up behind me and pulled me back a step.

"Sorry, Dad. I guess she's still a little angry about, you know… everything."

I roll my eyes. _That just about sums it up_ , I sign. Hades furrows his brow. "What's wrong with her? Last time we spoke she couldn't stop talking and interrupting me."

I decide to sign some choice words.

"Whoa, Raven. I am _not_ telling Hades that." Will protests. "He'll kill me!"

Hades looked at Will and blinked, surprised, like he had just noticed the _literal ray of sunshine_ standing in his throne room.

"And you are?" He asked confused.

"Oh! I'm Will. Will Solace. Nico and Raven's friend." He glances at Nico somewhat longingly, but Nico doesn't notice. Hades and I do, though. Will sticks out a tan hand.

Hades raises his eyebrows and ignores his hand. Will lowers it awkwardly and shoves it into the pocket of his jeans. Nico sighs exasperatedly our dad. It still feels weird calling Hades that.

"Apollo's child." Hades says distastefully. "I wouldn't approve, as Apollo seems to enjoy annoying me to the point of me wishing he would join the souls in the Fields of Punishment…" Nico grimaces as Hades continued. "Are you sure you two are just friends?"

Nico turned bright red and stuttered when he spoke. "D-Dad! Cut it out!"

"Oh, Nico, you know I'm fooling with you. But in all seriousness… You two are seem good for each other. Maybe it would turn out to be better than last ti-"

Nico looked mortified and my father was cut short due to the fact that shadows began whipping around my body and I punched the god of death on the arm. Hades's pale hand reached up slowly and touched the spot on his arm where I hit him. He turned towards me, a mix of anger and shock on his face. He eyed the tendrils of darkness that were spiraling out of me.

"What exactly could have possibly possessed you to do that?" Hades asked me. He was trying to be calm, but black fire burned in his eyes and his words were tense. Will and Nico looked on, with terrified faces. I smirk a little.

"I'm _waiting_." Hades says impatiently, his eyes boring into mine.

"Dad, she can't talk." Nico quickly explains. "Dionysus cursed her because she was sassing him."

"What? That insufferable little-" Hades fumed before calming slightly. "No matter. I shall deal with him later. But Raven, I wouldn't make it a habit of angering the gods." He waves his hand and I go into yet another coughing fit.

"Is the 'hacking up a lung' part really necessary to these things?" I wheeze, my eyes watery.

"No." Hades said. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to elaborate. "I just wanted to get you back for smacking me." Hades said proudly.

"You're incredibly childish for one of the Big Three." I tell him. He just rolls his eyes. Nico lets out a breath, then runs his fingers through his dark hair at the exact moment I do. Hades chuckles.

"Now that we've got _that_ out of the way… what did you need me to do, Dad?"

"Oh! Right. Well, there is a… a _something_ lurking among the spirits in the Fields of Asphodel. Something powerful, ancient, and evil. It is able to conceal itself from me. I believe it can sense my presence every time I approach. But maybe, just maybe… you'll be able to sneak up on it. Now. I want to make myself clear. Under no circumstances will you be allowed to make contact with it. I forbid you. You will not win that battle. I can tell this much. If you find it, report _immediately_ back here. I shall find a way to destroy it." Hades finished. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, father." Nico and I said, while Will chimed in with a quick, "Yes, sir!" Will and I joined hands with Nico, and as he shadow traveled us away, I called back to my dad. "Bye, Dad! Sorry-not-sorry for punching you!"


	7. I Meet The Goddess Of Hate

We melted out of the shadows at the edge of the Fields of Asphodel. They were grey and barren, with the exception of a few clumps of gnarled poplar trees dotting the dry yellow grass. Looking at it gave me a bad feeling. Like, somehow even worse than the Fields of Punishment. My stomach knotted and my throat felt dry. I pulled at the hem of my t-shirt. Spirits wandered around, occasionally bumping into one another and chattering with scratchy voices, sounding like dry leaves skittering across pavement on a windy day. The fields felt ominous and sinister.

"Guys… I can't- I don't think that we should go in here, so I'll just be going…" I start to walk away, heading in the direction of my dad's palace. I was suddenly pulled back as Will grabbed the back of my shirt.

"Hey! Where are you going? We need you here." He said worriedly.

"Oh, nothing. It's just… the fields seem kind of…" My voice trailed off.

"Depressing?" Will supplied.

"Well… basically, yeah."

"I'll be with you. It's gonna be okay. We're all gonna shadow travel to different parts so we can cover more ground, okay?" Will reassured me. I nod, chewing on my bottom lip. I know Nico is capable of taking care of himself but still…

Nico shadow traveled each of us to a different side of the fields. When I enter, spirits immediately begin to gravitate towards me, clinging to my clothes and pleading with me to save them. I try to brush them off, but my hand goes straight through their wispy bodies. I immediately pulled my hand away from them, gasping.

"Wha-what?" I glanced down at the spirits. Their black pit-like eyes stare into mine. More join them, pooling around me.

"Back. Off." I say, forcefully pushing them away. It works this time, but I still shiver when I make contact with them. I elbow my way farther into the crowd. A spirit hisses angrily as I accidentally elbow it in the eye socket.

"Sorry." I muttered. I'm not exactly sure why I was apologizing, since I'm not even sure if they can understand me, but it seemed polite, I guess. The mob of black-cloaked figures was getting thicker, therefore harder to navigate. Why wouldn't they just _move_?

I took a deep breath before announcing in a loud voice, "Excuse me! Hey! Make way for me. I am Raven Nerezza, daughter of Hades. And _I_ control you, you do what _I_ say. Now _move_." The ghosts split, leaving a path through the middle of the horde. " _Thank_ you."

I stride through the aisle they have made for me, my chin up high. I'm trying to look confident, because I feel that even though I'm respectful to the dead, I should make it clear who's in charge. Me. Anyway, when I passed, the ghosts frantic chattering seemed to get subdued.

I was maybe a couple hundred yards into the fields, without a single sign of the ancient monster my father was having us scout for. Now, maybe it was just me, but I wish he hadn't told us not to fight the thing once we'd found it. We were perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves during battle. I had been training for months to fight monsters, and now I just wanted to see if I was good enough.

I was deep in thought, so of course, I wasn't paying attention. That is, until I bumped into someone. I jumped back, startled. The woman was beautiful. She wore perfectly applied makeup and black high heels poked out from the bottom hem of her floor-length red dress. Her hair was in an elaborate up-do and jewels decorated her ears and throat. At first, I thought it might be Aphrodite, but the woman's eyes were filled with hate and malice. Too much to be the goddess of love.

"Wh-who _are_ you?" I stammered. The woman snarled at me, sounding feral. Her face contorted in anger.

"Who am I? Who am _I_?" She repeated, clearly baffled that I didn't already know. "I am Erida, goddess of hate."

"Oh. Um, okay." I said stupidly. "You sound like the evil thing my dad wanted me to find."

Erida laughed, high and cold. "I have known your father was looking for me for quite some time now, young one. But I have business here. I am part of something much bigger than you. I am looking for... someone. So, half-blood, I will give you two choices. The first, you will help me find who I want, and join my- _his_ cause. Or second, you can _try_ to tell Hades, and suffer the consequences. You do _not_ want to cross me, young one. For if you do, you will be shown no mercy."

I thought for a moment, all the while glaring at Erida. I could just walk away and drop this… but that felt like betraying my father. Not that he didn't really deserve it. I could also attack Erida. But my sword, borrowed from the weaponry shed back at camp, was unbalanced in my hand. I wasn't a bad fighter though…

I unsheathed my sword and had it laid against Erida's throat before she even knew what was happening. I admit, it was kind of a rush, having all this power over a goddess. Her life ( I know I can't really kill her but still ) was in my hands. She bared her teeth, snarling at me. Reaching up, she grabbed my sword hand and wrenched it away, twisting out of my grip. A sword of her own appeared in her hands and we battled. She lunged at me, aiming for my head, but I swept the attack away with a slash of my sword. I was glad that Hazel had pulled my hair back this morning, usually it was a distraction during fights. Erida and I parried for a short time, but I was getting tired. My muscles burned and I was sweating.

With the clanging of metal on metal, Erida disarmed me, my sword flying into the spirits who had made a circle around us. She smiled triumphantly and my face paled. Erida circled me like a shark, removing a Celestial bronze dagger from a woven golden belt at her waist.

"Now… I could just kill you. Right now." She purred, placing her dagger on my throat. "But, I don't think you're going to get off that easy. There will be consequences, as I told you."

I swallowed hard. "Or, you know, you could just let me go."

Erida looked into my eyes, making me feel like she was reading my memories. She nodded quickly.

"I think I have some people for you to meet." Erida smiled wickedly. "I'm sure you will have a great time… reconnecting with them." She pushed the dagger harder, causing beads of blood to appear on my neck, before pushing me to the ground. My elbows scraped the ground when I hit it, causing me to wince.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. All around me, the temperature dropped. Frost began forming on the grass and I could see my breath. A cold feeling spread through my chest. Erida smiled at me, like she knew something I didn't. The feeling in my chest was freezing, getting colder every second, growing painful. I managed to stand up, trying not to look weak.

"Stop!" I wheezed.

Suddenly, two figures separated from the crowd of spirits. The ice in my chest intensified, and my vision went black for a few seconds.

"Surprise." Erida hissed menacingly.

The first spirit stepped out from the thick blanket of fog surrounding it. I gasped, almost falling down again in shock.

It was my brother. I nearly passed out.

"Hello, Raven," he whispered. He looked like his old self again, but more serious.

I stuttered incoherently before managing to speak normally. "Zach." I said. It sounded strangled. I staggered towards him, tears streaming down my face. "H-how?"

Zach ignored my question and asked one of his own. "Why didn't you save me?"

"What? Zach you- you… what do you mean?"

His face, usually so happy, twisted in anger. "You could have saved me, Raven. But you stood and watched me die."

I was so confused. Zach had died from pneumonia last winter. We had fallen through the ice on the lake when we were playing ice hockey. He saved me, but he got stuck under the ice for too long and fell sick that night. He died three days later. What could I have done? He seemed to read my mind.

"It was _your_ idea to play on the ice. It's _your_ fault I died." my brother snarled. This wasn't like him. He _never_ got mad at me. Except that one time when I was four and flushed his baseball cards down the toilet.

"I-I'm so sorry, Zach. I thought the ice would hold."I looked at the ground. Maybe his death _was_ my fault.

"Sorry doesn't cut it." Zach told me viciously. "I should have let you drown. I _hate_ you."

I looked at my brother wide-eyed. Tears rolled off my face, dripping onto the ground. "C'mon Zach. This isn't yo-"

I didn't get to finish. At that moment, the second figure revealed itself.

"Tyler." I croaked, my voice thick with tears.

"Miss me?" He asked sarcastically, his evil grin sharp enough to cut. I narrowed my eyes slightly as he continued, Zach watching from his place next to Tyler. "If you had just been faster, I would still be alive today. Why didn't you try?"

"No, no, Tyler, I did! I did try. I tried so hard to save you…" My voice broke twice.

"I thought you loved me." Tyler said brokenly, hatred burning in his beautiful blue eyes. My knees gave out, and I collapsed onto the dead grass below me, sobs racking my body.

"Tyler. I love you so much. I still do." I told him. I could barely see through the tears, but I saw Zach there next to Tyler. "I miss you both every day." I whispered.

"We don't love you." They said together. At that, I felt something snap inside me. I buried my face in my knees and cried, a constant stream of, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" pouring from my mouth.

Zach and Tyler circled me, their malicious words echoing through my mind.

"You're not special."

"You couldn't save us."

"Nobody loves you."

Erida cackled in the background, high-pitched and evil. I had kind of forgotten about her.

"BE GONE!" Someone bellowed. It kinda sounded like my father. At this point, I couldn't care less.

I heard Erida screaming and I vaguely felt Will picking me up off the ground.

My head cleared. I was hyper aware of everything around me. I twisted out of Will's grip, and hit the ground running. I weaved in and out of the souls, who were chattering with annoyance. Tears rolled down my face and I stumbled on a tree root. I fell, scraping my hands and knees.

"Raven!" Nico called. "Come back!" I panicked. They were getting closer. Scrambling onto my feet, I began to run again.

The voices faded far behind me. I flew past a clump of poplar trees, their figures blurred by my speed. It continued to get darker as I ran, the sky above me turning from grey to black. In the back of my mind, I felt sort of stupid, blundering through the woods crying, not knowing where I was going. But at the same time, I couldn't find it in myself to care much.


	8. The Entrance To Tartarus

**(sorry this chapter's so short)**

I stumbled. I thought I would hit the ground again, but as my arms flailed around I hit a wall of hard, sharp rock, earning me a good sized cut on my forearm. I let out a soft gasp, bringing my arm up to examine the stinging gash. It didn't look too deep so I ignored it. Instead, I turned my attention to the rock wall I had just crashed into. It was just light enough outside to see its outline.

I felt around, and realized that it wasn't purely a solid wall in the middle of the woods, but a _cave_ … in the middle of the woods.

Well, my curiosity just kind of exploded then, and I was in such emotional pain, that I couldn't care less what I did. I wasn't really paying attention anyway.

I wandered in, sticking close to the wall. The cave had a sinister feel to it, but I didn't mind. My heart was clenched painfully, even though the cold feeling was long gone. Air rushed past me, coming from behind, then again, this time from in front of me. It was as if something giant was breathing. I shuddered, my head still slightly muddled from… earlier. I trudged farther into the cavern. As I walked, I realized two things.

The cave wasn't actually a cave, it was a rocky tunnel.

Something _was_ breathing down the tunnel.

That fact unnerved me. I slowed my steps, trying not to make any sudden or loud movements. Taking out my unbalanced sword, I used it's dull glow to see. Though with my teary eyes and the dim lighting, my sword didn't help much.

I crept forward. The tunnel began to widen, until it led me to a giant cavern. On its opposite side was a cliff. _Gee,_ I thought. _That's just perfect. Here I am, wallowing in self-pity and hatred and guilt, and there's a cliff ten feet away._

With the exception of the cliff, there didn't seem to be any immediate danger in the room. I walked quietly over to the cliff edge, sitting with my legs dangling off into open space.

I sighed. I was hopeless. I hadn't been the same since last year, and I hated it. I hate not being able to be happy. I hate the weight on my chest that never goes away. I hate crying myself to sleep at night. I wish I could just _be_ happy. But it's not that easy.

I looked into the void in front of me. _It could be easy_ , I thought. _Just a quick jump. Then it would be over._ I sigh, leaning my head onto the wall next to me.

 _Zach hates me._

 _Tyler hates me._

 _It's my fault they're dead._

 _I mess everything up._

 _I'm not, and never will be, good enough._

 _I would be better off dead._

I'm seriously considering jumping. But then I remember Ebony. Maybe I'm not important, but she needs someone to take care of her…right? Who am I kidding? She's a hell hound. She's probably survived thousands of years on her own. She doesn't need me. Nobody does. I'm worthless.

I stand up and begin balancing on the very edge of the cliff, lost in my depressing thoughts. I nearly fall, but I couldn't care less. This is like a game to me now, I don't care whether I live or die at this point. The tears roll down my face faster, clouding my vision.

I jump a mile high when I hear footsteps down the tunnel, nearly sending me off the edge. I clumsily draw my sword, not prepared. Figures separate from the dark tunnel in front of me.

Nico and Will.

I step backwards, mostly due to surprise and shock. Why are they still looking for me? I don't finish that thought, though, because my foot begins to slip on the loose rock at the edge of the cliff. I lurch forward, trying to get back onto solid ground, but it's hard. Even harder now that something in the pit seems to be pulling at me, weighing me down.

I'm falling.

I see Nico's face in mask of horror. "NO!" He screams, leaping forward, trying to catch my outstretched hand.

My hand reached out to grab his, but it was too late. I fell into the black void.

But before I could fall completely, I latched onto a small crumbling rock shelf, about three feet down. Nico and Will's faces quickly appeared above me, both in identical masks of shock and horror. I looked down, somehow feeling ashamed that they were seeing me like this, so vulnerable and helpless.

I had thought that this was what I wanted. Now I was having some doubts. I decided that I wasn't going to give up just yet…but how could I be saved now?

 _ **~Nico~**_

"Will, what do I do?" I asked desperately. I couldn't let her fall, I couldn't.

"What do _we_ do, you mean." Will said. "I don't know."

I was about to retort with something, which was definitely _not_ about the warm feeling in my chest at Will's words, but before I could, I heard a small, choked sob coming from beneath us. From Raven.

"Raven?" I called, panicked. "Raven I'm coming to get you, okay? Hang in there."

"I-I'm scared." She mumbled, her voice breaking pitifully. "I don't want to f-fall anymore."

Well that kind of took me by surprise. I think back to when Will and I had rushed in here and Raven was walking on the edge of the cliff, with a small small and tears rolling down her face.

Oh. _Oh._

"Anymore?" I choked out.

Raven takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Yeah. I thought that I… that maybe everything would be better if I just… Let me start over, okay? I thought that everything would be better if I just… wasn't here. Nobody really needs me, y'know? Everything was fine without me before, so everything's gonna be okay without me now."

She kind of sounded like she was talking herself back into something, and I didn't like it.

"Raven I'm coming for you, okay?" I assured her, swinging my legs over the side of the cliff.

"Nico! What in Hades' name are you doing?" Will exclaimed. "You can't go without me."

I sighed. "Will, it's too dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Are you saying I can't handle it?" Will challenged.

"Wha-no! I'm saying that I don't want you hurt! That's all…" I blushed, and continued scaling slowly down the face of the cliff. Will stubbornly followed me, much to my dismay. We shuffled along the wall until we reached the jutting shelf that Raven was hanging onto. All you could see of her from our position were ten fingers, white from strain.

"Raven," Will said. "You're gonna have to trust me here. Grab my hands, and I'll pull you up, okay?"

Raven nodded, pain and tension obvious on her tear-streaked face.

Will took her hands, trying to hoist her onto the ledge, but Tartarus wasn't about to let his prey get away from him that easy. A gust of hot, dry wind rushed from the bottom of the pit, cracking my lips. Will lost his footing and almost tumbled over, but before he could, I unthinkingly threw my arms around his waist and held on for dear life.

You know those stories on the news about mothers who find the strength to lift cars to save their children? That's kind of what happened to me. The thought of both Raven and Will going into Tartarus was greater than my own fear of falling in. I yanked them both onto the ledge. They're both breathing heavily, and Will wraps his arms around me, like I'm doing to him. I didn't even know I was still holding him, but when I try to let go, he just holds on tighter.

 _Lower your expectations,_ I mentally chide myself, though I'm blushing. _He's probably just scared._

Raven is too, by the looks of her. She's paler than usual, and her black eyes are so wide they seem to take up half her face, which is slick from tears that are still rolling. Her entire body is shaking violently. She seems to be trying to say something, but she can't make the words come out.

She looks into my eyes, and I shudder. Her eyes look dead.

I try to approach Raven reaching my hand out to her, but she snaps her head away, flinching back. It makes me mad how afraid she looks. Not mad at _her_ , but at who did this.

"Raven?" I demand. "I need to know what happened in the fields. Who did this to you?"

"It was… it doesn't matter, right? It's… it's over now."

"It _does_ matter!" I said, anger rising in my chest. "I need to know so that I can hunt whoever it is down and make their life a living hell. I want to make them regret the day the decided to-"

I was cut off by Will's warm hand on my shoulder. I glanced at him, and he shook his head just slightly, warning me to stop.

Taking a deep breath, I turned back to Raven. "The point is, I just need to know. Okay? Will you tell me?"

Raven was avoiding my eyes. When she spoke, it was quiet and scratchy. "Uh, it was Erida."

" _Erida?_ 'Goddess of hate' Erida?" Will asked incredulously.

"That's the one." Raven muttered.

"Raven, what exactly did she do?" Will interrogated her. "How did she hurt you? The more you tell me, the better I can heal you."

"W-when she fought me, she cut my neck." Raven remembered, lifting her head slightly to show the shallow cut. A line of dried blood marked a path down her throat. "She… she-when she brought _them_ to me, she put this cold feeling in my chest. I couldn't breath. And she threw me on the ground, but I guess I'm fine."

"But… who is 'them'?" I asked her, my face pulling into a frown.

Raven murmured something, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"What?"

"It was my… brother. And m-my boyfriend." Tears pooled in her eyes as she spoke. "Zach and Tyler."

I was opening my mouth to answer when suddenly another voice joined us.

"Hello _demigods_." The voice hissed. Will looked up, fear written clearly on his face, and Raven seemed to be trying to become one with the rock wall behind her, shrinking into it. _Erida._


	9. Fear and Falling

"What do _you_ want." I hissed viciously. "I think you've done enough around here."

Erida laughed, a surprisingly pleasant and happy sound considering who it was coming from. "Oh, but I am not finished yet, young one. I haven't even started! I'm going to offer _one last time_. Do as I say, and you will be spared, and rewarded beyond belief. If not, well… there are things I can do to you. Things so much worse than death. Come with me, join me! This is the offer of a lifetime."

Raven stands shakily. "We will never join you. You can take your offer and shove it up your-"

"Raven!" Will warns.

"Son of Hades, son of Apollo, make a decision." Erida says.

"Thanks, but no thanks." I tell her, trying to sound more confident than I am.

"I'm with them." Will states, stepping away from Erida and closer to Raven and I.

Erida shrugs like that doesn't bother her at all, but the anger in her eyes gives her away. "Very well."

She waves her hand and the thin shelf beneath us shakes, causing the side connecting to the cliff to crumble.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Raven shouts. She seems to have gained some of her usual confidence back.

Erida didn't answer. She lifted her hands above her head, spreading them out. She turned her face towards the sky…I mean, the ceiling. She began chanting something, too quiet for the three of us to hear. The cavern began to collapse, violent tremors rocking through the ground. Stalactites and chunks of rock and dirt fell around us, but surprisingly, none hit the goddess above us. That must have been part of her magic, too. Plenty hit us, though. Thanks Erida.

Will, Raven, and I huddled together, using our hands and arms as flimsy and poor attempts at shields.

A jagged-edged rock hit Will's head. His eyes rolled back and he fell forwards. I caught him, and propped him up next to me. His shaggy blond head lolled against my shoulder. I gathered my sister on my open side. I knew that this wasn't the worst thing that Erida was capable of, so why did she seem to be holding back?

Suddenly, the shelf we were crowded together on snapped clean off. _No, no, no, this_ can't _be happening again_ , I thought. _I can't do this._

I saw Raven tumble into the void before me, raw terror written on her features. The blood in my veins seemed to turn to ice. As scared as I was (don't get used to me admitting that), I wasn't about to let my sister go through Tartarus alone. Maybe it would be faster now that I actually knew where to go. Oh, who am I kidding? You can't be prepared for something like that. When Will was pulled out of my grip, I had even less of a choice than I had before.

I'd like to say that I fell all heroically and manly and stuff, but in reality, I kind of just tripped over my own feet in an attempt to not fall in.

Don't judge me.

At this point, my mind completely shut down. It had been two years since I had last been here, and I honestly didn't know how I could cope with this again. I _still_ have nightmares. And now I was here with Will and Raven.

 _ **~Raven~**_

What the hell just happened?

I'm falling.

I look around frantically for anyone, _anything_ … but there was nothing. Nothing but black. I was alone. So alone. The darkness seemed to compact into something more solid, pressing against me. My ears began to ring. The silence was unbearable.

The darkness felt like it was suffocating me. I began to breathe heavily. Sobs wracked my body.

"Help!" I croaked. "Somebody please…help…"

Nothing. I don't really know what I expected, but I was still disappointed.

"Raven?" Somebody said. Nico? Even his whisper was loud in this pit.

"Nico!" I exclaimed desperately. "Where are you? Where's Will?"

"I don't know where Will is." Nico tells me weakly, panic lacing his words. "And I think I'm somewhere to your left. It's hard to tell though."

I reached out in the direction I heard Nico's voice from, but I couldn't find him. "Stretch your hand towards me Nico. I'm gonna find you."

This time, I felt Nico's cold hand. I held on as tight as I could, partly because I didn't want to lose him, and partly because I needed reassurance that somebody else was actually here.

I heard a soft noise. It was Nico. He was… crying. I'd never seen him cry before. That's not saying much, since I've only been at camp for a short time, but still… I was shocked.

"A-are you okay?" I tentatively asked Nico.

"I'm fine." Nico replied thickly. "I… I thought I was going to lose you."

Nico broke down again. I pulled myself closer to him, and hugged him tight.

"And n-now I can't find Will! I don't know what I'll do if he's…" Nico's voice trails off, and he hiccups slightly.

"I know." I said quietly. Will is like a brother to me, and I'd be devastated if I lost him.

Nico scoffed. "Ugh. I'm sorry Raven. I'm _your_ big brother… I should be comforting _you_."

"No, no, I'm fine, okay? You're more important right now." I try to assure him, but I can't seem to keep the quiver out of my voice. "But uh, _where_ exactly are we?"

Nico tenses. I can tell that this is something he would rather not talk about. I stop talking, and instead, I focus on not breaking down crying again. This was all so overwhelming. I don't know what to do, and I don't know where Will is… I hate being left in the dark. Figuratively, I mean.

It had been silent for a long time, until Nico finally spoke up. "We are going to Tartarus." He said tonelessly. And as he says those words, it's as if a dam has broke. Nico tells me about what Tartarus is, how it's where monsters and demons end up and reform. "It's a hellhole." Nico says. "It's a literal hellhole." He talks and talks and talks, filling the silence. Nico finishes, gasping like he had forgotten to breathe.

"I've been here before." Nico says, and his voice is so fragile, so small, it sounds as if it could break apart at the slightest touch.

I was about to ask what he was talking about when the air thickened. The smell of sulfur became so strong I almost passed out. And I'm gasping, struggling for oxygen, but the air chokes me, every breath I take crowds itself in my lungs. I can't breathe, and I'm choking, coughing, what is _wrong_ with me?

Suddenly, I can breathe again. I draw in a deep, rattling breath, and cough a little, but it seems that I have gotten mostly used to the acidic air. I glance over at Nico, and see that his eyes are watering too, and he's blinking rapidly.

Wait… I can see him? The blackness surrounding us seems to have lightened, changing slowly to a dark brown color. There's a light far, far, below us, it looks hazy, like somebody slipped a filter over it, and it's a dot of bright red. I guess seeing a light in the darkness would make some people feel hopeful, but not me. This light didn't look inviting or safe, it looked like fire. It looked like danger. I tugged on Nico's sleeve, trying to show him. "Look." I say. It's unnecessary though, as he can see it already. His face pales.

"We're close." Nico mutters, closing his eyes. He's trying to be calm, for me, but he's shaking. The air became hotter and dryer, as if we were falling into a sand storm, forcing me to rub my eyes to clear them.

The surroundings gradually turned from brown to a rusty red color. I couldn't believe that this was the same day as I had kind of officially met my father. Feeding half my breakfast to Ebony seems like it happened weeks ago. It all happened so fast. And where is Will? He couldn't have just… disappeared. Could he have? The thought of him being still up there, alone, with Erida made me want to throw up. I shuddered and Nico glanced worriedly at me. I smiled back weakly in reply.

"Just thinking…" I said.

I thought he would question me but instead he just nods tensely. His lips are pressed together tightly.

We fall in silence for a while, each wrapped up in our own minds, worried and scared. And there are so many things for us to be scared about. Will, Tartarus, each other… I'm not so sure that I'll ever see my friends again. Schist! I never went to see Andy… I never checked on him, tried to help him get his memories back…and I'd never Iris Messaged my mom… I'm a horrible person.

Suddenly, a loud and panicked yelp shoots through the quiet. I look over at Nico in confusion. His eyes are almost comically wide. "Will." He breathes.

"Will!" I yell. "Will!"

"Raven?" The voice calls back. He sounds faint. "Is Nico with you?"

"I'm right here, Will!" Nico yells. "I'm here. Where are _you_?"

A beat of silence passes, the only sound is Nico's harsh breathing. "It's too dark! I can't see!" Will finally says.

"He's not too far away." Nico tells me anxiously, before turning his attention back to Will. "We'll get you soon!" There was no reply.

"He's probably just overwhelmed." I say to Nico. "He'll be fine."

In the meantime, we were getting closer and closer to the bottom of the pit. The colors around us were turning a brighter red, orange flames could be seen flickering somewhere below Nico and I. But that wasn't the real problem. The problem was that among the fires and rocky ground, there were monsters. At least two dozen of them. I recognized what most of them were quickly, empousai, hell hounds, and a small drakon… but the rest weren't so easy to identify. They were horrible, of course. The moment I saw them, I knew I could never forget this. Ever.

As we fell closer, one of the monsters caught my eye. It seemed to be some sort of a she-demon. She was gorgeous, with silky black hair that flowed to her waist, and almost pure white skin. At first I thought that her lips were naturally red, but soon after I realized that they weren't. Blood was dripping from the she-demon's mouth, staining her lips. But the most haunting thing about her were her eyes. One was pure black. No white or pupil or anything. The other eye looked normal enough, except for the fact that it had no pupil. It was the most pale blue I had ever seen, and it was terrifying. The she-demon stared blankly back at me. Nico and I were so close to the ground now, maybe ten feet or so. The heat and the sulfurous smell becomes unbearable again and I feel my skin blister and I blink, trying to get the dust out of my eyes.

Though we were about to land, the ground getting closer and closer every second, the monsters grew impatient. Three harpies flew towards Nico and I, growling viciously.

I felt razor sharp claws latch onto my upper arms, tearing me away from Nico. "Stop!" I yelled. "Let go!"


	10. Captors and Combat

Nico was picked from the air by the other two harpies, but I wasn't paying much attention to him. I was a bit wrapped up in my own struggles. I was trying to pry the the harpy talons out of my shoulder, which was now bleeding profusely. I reached up, swatting at the dusty blue wings of my captor. I managed to pull out a few feathers, but that only earned me a bite on my ear. I kicked and punched and did everything, anything, to try to escape.

To my left, I saw something drop from the sky. (Could you really call it that?) It was a boy. A boy with messy blonde hair and tan skin.

"Will!" Nico yelled. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have done that, as it only called attention to Will. Too late now, though. Two more harpies snatch Will, and even though I can use that against the monsters, I feel a twinge of annoyance. They're underestimating me. They underestimate what I can do. My annoyance bleeds into full-on anger.

I swing my leg up, best I can, and kick the blue-feathered harpy square in her nose. She shrieks in pain and unlatches, but only with one leg. I grabbed her ankle and ripped the claws out of my arm before unsheathing my unbalanced sword. The Celestial bronze glinted, reflecting the fires all around me. The harpy squawked in alarm at the sight of my blade.

"Surprise." I say, just loud enough for the harpy to hear. I bring my sword up and slice through the leg. It probably wasn't the most well thought out plan, because the next thing I knew, I was free falling to the ground, even faster than before. Quicker than I thought I would, I'm hitting the hard, rocky ground. If I had been more prepared, I could have ended my fall with a roll, like I learned at camp. But unfortunately, I hadn't really been expecting this.

Pain shoots up my already injured shoulder, and I realize immediately that I've broken something. I only gritted my teeth though, not wanting to seem weak in front of the monsters, who were crowding me in a loose circle.

I struggled to my feet, quietly groaning in pain when I jostle my arm. My sword lays beyond the mass of monsters, as I had dropped it when I fell.

The she-demon from before elbowed her way through the crowd just as the harpies dropped Will and Nico behind me.

"You're back." The demon said to Nico, completely ignoring Will and I. Her voice was low and smooth and overall surprisingly nice.

Nico's brow furrowed. "I…I don't remember you."

The demon laughed, a clear, bell-like sound. "You wouldn't. I've never had the pleasure to meet you three." Her tone was friendly enough, but there was a cutting undertone to it that set me on edge.

"Well then how do you know Nico?" I chimed in.

"Duh." the demon said, turning to me and rolling her eyes. "He's pretty well-known around here, along with the other two demigods who've been here. No half-blood has survived Tartarus in a while. I hadn't found out until a few weeks back."

Will cleared his throat. "And why is that?"

The demon huffed in exasperation. "Because some _idiot_ killed me! I was doing just fine up there, possessing people, killing, just minding my own business, really. And then some guy got his hands on the Colt and just straight up shot me! It was so rude."

"Okay?" I said. My mind was reeling trying to figure out how to get Will, Nico, and I away from here. "You seem like you have a few issues to work through so we're just gonna go. . ."

The demon turned her head towards me slowly. The look in her eyes was annoyed, but I could see a touch of belittling amusement, too. "You aren't going anywhere. You seem. . . intriguing." A greedy kind of light overtook the she-demons face. "The other two, well, I really don't care what happens to them. My friends, of course, are fairly. . . hungry."

Obviously, I caught on to what she was planning pretty quick. "No." I said. My voice was quieter than I had hoped, so I repeated it, more forceful this time. "No."

The demon didn't waste any time with dramatics. "Yes."

Before I knew what was happening, she launched herself at me, and I fell like a ton of bricks. Hard. I yelped in pain as my broken shoulder collided with the ground.

"Hey!" Will yelled. "Leave her alone, she's hur-!" Will was cut off when a Laestrygon clamped a dirty hand over his mouth.

I punched at the demon, who was now sitting on my chest, but she dodged every attempt easily. She grabbed my upper arms and hauled me to my feet. I gasped as she jostled my broken bones.

The demon let out a breathless laugh and reached inside her pants pocket.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice higher than usual. The demon didn't reply, but instead took a length of rope from the pocket and shook it in front of my face. Then she did something I didn't expect. She blew a puff of air onto the rope, which then glowed bright red, like burning coals in a dying fire. She began tying my wrists together, and I was surprised that the rope didn't burn me. I still winced every time she twisted too tight.

"Don't be such a wuss." The demon chided. "This is nothing."

When she was done, she looked back at her army. I peered over the demons shoulder and sighed. The army was still keeping Will and Nico busy, and there was no way the two boys could take them down, at least, not anytime soon.

"Perfect." The demon muttered to herself. She began to walk away. I was still watching intently as the boys fought, and I didn't realize until the demon impatiently yanked on the rope that she had wanted me to follow her.

"Come _on_." She snapped. "We don't have all day."

"Where are you going?" I asked cautiously. Oh, don't worry. I wasn't going to leave without a fight.

The demon sighed, exaggerating it and therefore letting me know how irritated she was. " _We_ are going to get out of here."

" _I'm_ not going anywhere." I stubbornly said, planting my feet firmly on the ground. "And especially not with _you_."

She put a hand up to her heart ( if she had one ), and faked looking offended. "You wound me. Really. I'm hurt." Her face slipped back into its usual bored expression. "But seriously, I'm getting sick of you already. Let's _go_."

Half-formed escape plans flew through my mind. But of course, I chose the one that had worked well for me in times before. Being as loud and annoying as possible.

I looked into the demon's black-and-blue eyes and stilled my features. Then, I sat down on the cracked and heat-blistered earth below me. The look on the demon's face was priceless. She tugged the rope, quick and harsh. "What are you doing?"

"I'm _not_ going." I told her tonelessly, biting back a laugh at the demon's expression. The demon made a disbelieving noise in the back of her throat.

Suddenly, she grinned. "Oh, you're funny. You think you have a choice."

"What makes you think I don't?" I snapped back.

"Feisty, huh?" She had an amused look in her fiery eyes. "That's okay. I know people like that. I have ways of making you do what I wish."

"Ditto." I retorted. The demon scoffed.

"Listen, half-blood. We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. Your pick." She snarled at me, her eyes blazing with anger.

"Hmmm…" I said exaggeratedly, pretending to think about my choice. "Do your worst."

"Very well." She said. The demon snapped her fingers quickly and suddenly I was being lifted into the air.

I yelped, more out of surprise than of pain. I shook my bangs out of my face, grateful for the braid for the second time today. Thinking of how Hazel carefully braided my hair this morning sent a dull ache through my chest. I twisted around, which was hard considering my wrists were tied, and saw that three harpies had hoisted me off the ground.

"Arghh!" I screamed, my frustration with everything getting the better of me. The demon below me smirked.

"What's wrong?" She asked, faking innocence. "Does somebody not like the hard way?"

"Surprising as it may be, _no._ No I do _not_."

"Maybe you should have thought of that _before_ you acted stupid."

"Hey!" I wriggled a bit, trying to test my captor's holds. I felt talons dig into my shoulder blade and gritted my teeth to keep from crying out.

The demon smiled knowingly and called to the harpies. "Let's go, ladies! We don't have all day."

I began to panic. I wrenched one arm out of the harpy's grip, and yelled as loud as I could. "NICO! Will! Help me! I'm being kidnapped by a crazy demon lady!"

I saw Nico look up, and his face blanched. I saw him grab Will's arm. Will followed Nico's line of sight until he too, saw me. Will shouted something, but over the roar of the monsters, I couldn't make it out.

The harpies began flying me away, and I almost sobbed in despair. I only had Will and Nico, and now I was alone. Again. I didn't even know where my sword was.


	11. That Is A Nice Boulder

My sadness bled into anger pretty quickly, and I felt my body shaking slightly.

"Stop!" I demanded. The harpies ignored me completely and continued their flight. I sighed, and began to struggle. I kicked my legs and wriggled my arms, trying to get free, but my attempts were fruitless.

I clenched my fists and felt the harpies ratty feathers brush my knuckles. A thought popped into my head. I moved my hand towards the feathers and swiftly yanked on one. The harpy squawked in indignation and cuffed my head with a strong wing. I didn't let that stop me and pulled out a few more feathers, alternating between the three harpies. For my plan to work, they _all_ had to be annoyed. Fortunately for me, I was pretty good at being annoying.

After what had seemed like decades, the harpies decided they were fed up with my antics and one by one dropped me. I held on to the last remaining harpy, trying to urge it into soaring closer to the ground. But the harpy shook her foot viciously, and I had no choice but to let go. As I sailed through the air for the third time today, I felt my body tense, and realized that I was going to have to roll. I sighed inwardly. This was going to be murder on my shoulder.

I heard myself hit the ground before I felt it. But soon after, the pain raced through my body, and bright stars danced around my eyes. I tumbled sloppily to the side, and ended up on my back, blinking to clear my blurry vision. I groaned and heard the dull crunch of shoes on dry dirt. Turning my head slightly to the side, I caught sight of a pair of dusty, dark brown military boots. Lifting my eyes higher, I saw slightly baggy cotton pants marked with camouflage and a fitted black shirt.

 _Jeez_ , I thought. _She looks like an army general or something._ I ignored the other thought, which was, _she looks really good._

I looked up, my vision was hazy from the pain and my head felt heavy. The demon was standing above me, and she didn't look amused. That was a bit of an understatement. She looked furious.

"What was _that_?" She seethed through her teeth. "You could have _killed_ yourself!"

I coughed, choking slightly on the dust in my throat. "Aww, you care." I said, rolling my eyes.

The demon's eyes flashed dangerously, and she grabbed the front of my shirt and yanked me off the ground, bringing her face close to mine.

"Whoa there, watch the shirt! I don't have another one, you know." I yelped, attempting to push her away. Her grip only tightened, and her nails on my arm dug into my skin, leaving crescent moon shapes.

She gave me a critical once over before her eyes flitted back to mine. " _Pathetic_." She snarled, baring her white teeth. I noticed her canines were longer than they should've been. She swiftly picked me up from the ground and threw me over her shoulder like a sack of flour.

I sat in shock for a minute before jolting back to reality. "Ex _cuse_ me? What the _hell_ are you doing?"

Instead of answering, the demon only looked over her her shoulder at me, a growl rising from the back of her throat. "Has anyone ever told you how impossible you are to be around?"

"Stop touching me!" I insisted. I've hated being touched ever since my mom started drinking. That's when she would hit Zach and I. I heard the desperation creeping into my voice, and I hated it.

"You're in no position to argue." The demon countered.

"No!" I shouted. "Don't touch me! Put me down." I attempted to make it sound like a command, but my voice cracked and I blinked away tears.

"Whoa," The demon said, finally realizing how worked up I was about this. She set me down, and grasped the rope. "Fine. But if you run, you die."

"How about I get off with a warning?" I tried, purposely changing the subject.

"No."

"Aw, come on."

" _No._ "

"What's your name?" I blurted randomly, effectively shutting her up. The demon was silent for a while, and I sighed, guessing I wasn't going to get an answer out of her.

"What's yours?" The demon finally said.

I saw no harm in telling her, it's not like I was anyone special anyway. She couldn't use my name for anything. "It's Raven. Nerezza."

"Italian?" The demon said curiously. "But you sound like you're from England."

"Yeah, that name's from a few generations back. When I was younger, my mom used to tell me about where my family came from, but then…"

"Then what?"

I gritted my teeth. The demon couldn't have known. She wasn't deliberately doing this to hurt me….was she? "Then she stopped caring." I finished lamely, not sure how else to put it.

I noticed black rocky cliff in the distance. Perhaps that was where we were heading. I wondered what was over there.

"You know, I _am_ getting sick of referring to you as just 'that demon'. What's your name?" I said, repeating my question from earlier. "And don't you dare try to distract me again because it's not going to work."

"Why should I tell _you_?" The demon asked. It was a fair question, I suppose. "You haven't exactly been the greatest captive."

"Are captives really _supposed_ to behave well?" I wondered aloud. "I mean, I'm being held against my will. The least you could do is tell me who you are."

"First of all, no. You don't need to know. Second, ask me again, and you'll regret it."

I placed a hand on my chest and pretended to be shocked. "Jeez! I just asked your name. No need for the death threats."

She glanced back at me, her eyes flashing. "Death threats are great, though."

"I guess," I muttered, not really listening anymore. I began to pick at a loose thread on the neckline of my t-shirt. "But that still doesn't answer my question. What's your name?"

The demon groaned exasperatedly. "I can't tell you my real name. You can't really translate it into...well, anything. Just call me Dylan. That's what I went by in the mortal world."

I grinned, happy that I finally cracked her. Now we were even. All I hoped was that she didn't expect me to tell her anything else.

"Dylan," I repeated, testing it out. "D-y-l-a-n. Dylllllaaaannn." The first time was so I could remember it, because I have the worst memory out of anyone I have ever known. The other times were because I was bored.

"Enough," Dylan snapped, annoyance coloring her tone.

"Gods, woman! Lighten up." I replied, waving my tied hands.

Dylan readjusted me on her shoulder. "Just...just shush." She very eloquently said. "No more talking."

"Fine." I snapped. I was getting sick of Dylan's uptight attitude anyway. I was bored. The red-brown mountain scenery wasn't at all interesting to look at, and Dylan wasn't very good company. I sighed and kept walking.

I tripped a lot. Rocks littered the ground like mines and soon enough, my already slow speed had changed to me walking at a snail's pace. Dylan's jaw twitched every time she had to stop and wait for me to catch up. _Schist,_ I thought. _Dylan's going to be pissed at me again_.

After what seemed like a million years, we slowed. Or at least, Dylan did. I was still a few paces behind. Dylan dragged me over to a boulder. It was a massive thing, made of craggy brown stone. It didn't look like anything special, really. Just your average boulder you'd find sitting in the middle of Hell.

Dylan tied the rope binding my hands to a belt loop on her pants and slides a small silver knife out of her boot. I open my mouth to question her actions but she holds one finger up in a "don't talk I'm busy" way.

I watch curiously as Dylan slices the knife into her thumb, a drop of blood coloring the skin red. She then presses it to the side of the rock. The area lights up, blindingly white, before dulling back to brown.

"Come on," she says to me, beckoning. I move forward warily, unsure of what she'll do.

"What do you want?" I ask, and it comes out kind of rude. Dylan narrows her colorful eyes at me, and fast as lightning grabs my arm.

I immediately try to twist out of her grip in blind panic. This is how things with my mom usually started. But Dylan holds fast, and for a minute, only concern shows on her face.

"What's up with you? I only need to cut your finger." Dylan says.

"Whoa, Dylan! That makes me feel so much better!" I reply sarcastically.

Dylan's eyes flash. "Listen. Your blood needs to be on this rock for you to enter the cave, alright? So stop being a baby and give me your finger already!"

Turns out, she didn't actually have to ask. She just grabbed my arm again and before I knew it, my finger was bleeding too.

"Okay, you know what?" I said. "I'll do the rock thing. But you better not try to make me do that whole 'blood sisters' crap all those stupid teen girls do on T.V., because that's just stupid. They probably spread all kinds of weird diseases that way."

I realize I'm rambling. It's what I do when I'm nervous. It's a real problem. At my third school, I got in a fight with this kid I hated. His name was Michael Degrey. I had not-so-accidentally punched him in the nose after he began cracking jokes about my dad being missing, and when I tried to explain that he had started it, I just made everything worse and worse. I remember commenting on my principal's baldness and Michael's man boobs. I also had a few choice words for the nurse. And then the next day, I was on my way to my fourth school.

"Ohhh-kay. I wasn't going to go that far, 'cause that's gross. I don't want your filthy blood in me, anyway." Dylan retorted.

"Fine." I said, wiping my bloody thumb on my shirt. "But you cut my right hand. I can't move this shoulder."

Dylan groaned and took my left hand in hers, expertly slicing the skin in the pad of my thumb. "Happy now?" She said, exasperated.

I rolled my eyes and stick my thumb onto the side of the boulder, watching it glow white before once again changing back to its normal color.

Dylan steps forward and speaks in Greek. "Aνοιχτό" The boulder begins to shudder, and hairline fractures ran through it quickly. An image appeared on the surface of the rock: three thick, black claw marks. The marks fade, and before I have time to figure out what they are or what they mean, the outline of a door appears.


	12. Chapter 12

Holy shit, guys, I'm honestly SO SORRY. You've gotta believe me when I say I didn't mean to go this long without updating...

I just got my school computer back today, so I should be updating a lot more now.

I'm not giving up on this story, don't worry.

I'll update soon!

Love you guys 3


	13. I Finally Updated

**Author's Note: Okay guys, I know this isn't my best work, and I know it's not very long either, but I tried to get something decent out pretty quickly 'cause I know it's been forever since I last updated...**

 **Forgive me if this is rough, I know I'm pretty rusty.**

 **Please update, I love hearing what you guys think!**

 **-eve**

 __ _ **Dylan steps forward and speaks in Greek. "**_ _ **Aνοιχτό" The boulder begins to shudder, and hairline fractures ran through it quickly. An image appeared on the surface of the rock: three thick, black claw marks. The marks fade, and before I have time to figure out what they are or what they mean, the outline of a door appears.**_

Dylan lays her palm on the door shape, and feels around for a moment before hooking her fingers around a latch that I wouldn't have _ever_ been able to see. She tugs on the door, which makes a sound much like Ebony when she's throwing up. With the volume multiplied by ten-thousand.

I'm wincing, and trying to restrain myself from covering my ears when the noise finally stops. Dylan hadn't batted an eye throughout this entire process, which made me wonder how many times she'd actually done it.

I peered into the darkness. The back of the door itself was covered with dust and grime, like it hadn't been used for a while. Cobwebs hung from the ceilings, and red light flickered in the gloom, revealing a worn-out stone staircase.

"Going down?" I ask, trying to keep the nervousness out of my tone.

"Where else?" Dylan replies.

"I can think of a few." I retort, somewhat angrily. I march forward and in front of Dylan, this time tugging _her_ along. "Come along, now, Dylan. We haven't got all day!"

I make it down at least two-dozen stairs before Dylan catches up to me. She attempts to pass me indignantly while cuffing me on the head.

"Ow!" I protest. "What was that for?"

"That's for being cocky." She retorts, venom clear in her voice. I snort, and laugh quietly, hiding my mouth behind my hand in an attempt to stifle it.

Dylan, of course, notices anyway, and rolls her eyes. "Oh, shut up. You have a filthy mind."

"Yeah, okay," I say, but then I drop it and move to the side for her to pass me. She bumps my shoulder with her arm when she walks by (yeah, she's that much taller than me), and I _knew_ it was on purpose.

 _ **~Dylan~**_

I almost felt bad about leading Raven to her own execution.

But she was annoying, and I had direct orders from Erida. When Erida had told me, she was acting strangely. She refused to tell me who the orders were from, but she told me I would be rewarded if I brought one of the demigods to the underground caves. Now, I've done this for thousands of years, and I've never had a problem with it. I mean, they're just demigods. Their lives are nothing special. But this girl, Raven, she's. . . I don't know. She's growing on me, I guess.

I glance behind me, and see that Raven is clearly deep in thought. It's like she's on autopilot, she's here, but only physically. I pursed my lips and turned forward again. _Don't get involved_ , I scold myself. _She's not worth it_. We walk silently through the tunnels, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

I reach a smooth, hard-packed dirt wall. I sighed and began looking for a way to get through. I was told that there were many of these decoy dead ends throughout the tunnels. They were only there to discourage people who were not supposed to be down here. Something solid slammed into my back, sending me stumbling forward slightly. I whipped my head around, just to see Raven, who was blinking confusedly.

"Why did you stop?" She asked.

"Do you not see the dead end?" I asked incredulously. "You must be blind." Raven rolls her black eyes before she peers around me and gives the dirt wall a quick onceover.

"That's a fake," She declares proudly, patting the wall with her still-bound hands.

"Yeah, no kidding." I sarcastically reply. "We just need to find a way to get past it. I forgot how."

"Why'd you say 'we'?" Raven asked me.

"I didn't."

"'Uh huh," Raven replies. She begins to move her hands along the edges of the wall. Her hand ghosts over the bottom right corner, and immediately, three blood red claw marks began to glow on the dirt.

Raven gasped and wrenched her hand away as if she'd been electrocuted. No, not electrocuted. _Burned_. The claw marks were seared into the skin of her palm, which was smoking slightly. She sputtered for a few seconds, trying to understand what just happened. As for me, I was torn between just standing there gaping at her and laughing. I compromised, setting my face in its usual smirk.

"Shut up," Raven said, glaring at me so intensely my composure almost crumbled. Key word: almost. I looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" I replied. " I didn't even say anything."

"Well you were thinking something rude. I could tell."

"You couldn't _possibly_ know that."

"So you're really saying you _weren't_ thinking mean things?"

"Ah, ah, ah!" I chided. "I most definitely did _not_ say that. I am many things, Raven, but a liar is not one of them."

"I seriously doubt that." Raven cradled her injured hand against her chest, wincing when the movement pulled on her broken shoulder. Wow. She's gotta get fixed up.

With the confusion of what happened to Raven's hand, I hadn't noticed that the dirt wall was gone. I leaned back slightly, expecting to fall against the hard dirt wall. But instead, my body tipped backwards, my arms flailing around trying to find something to hold on to. That 'thing' just so happened to be the rope tying Raven's hands together. I yanked desperately, attempting to keep myself upright, but the only thing my efforts succeeded in were making Raven shriek as she fell on her face in the dirt.

Raven sat up slowly. " _Really, Dylan?_ " She said, spitting out a mouthful of mud. "Was that _really_ necessary?"

I chuckled. Dirt streaked Raven's pale face. A rock had cut into her cheek, and she had a bloody nose.

"Probably not. But all the same, it was funny to me."

"Wow," Raven said, pouting. "Thanks."

Raven's slight accent was stronger when she was sarcastic or upset. I pushed myself up from the ground, and before I knew what I was doing, I had stuck out my hand to help Raven up. Raven tensed, staring warily at my outstretched hand, before finally taking it with both of hers and rising off the ground. She grit her teeth when my palm pressed against her injured one.

Raven dusted herself off the best she could, and then took a deep breath. "Okay," she said. "Let's go. . .wherever we're going."

As I continued leading Raven through the long, winding tunnels, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was.

 _ **~Will~**_

I was tired. After we killed all those monsters (otherwise known as Nico killing them and me running around trying to distract them), Nico and I had begun walking in the direction we thought we had seen Raven get taken. And Nico and I were hopelessly lost. Nico hadn't said anything, just stared straight ahead for the past few hours. Had it been hours? It sure felt like it. But time passes differently in monstrous places. My hands were shaking. I had no weapon.

Yeah, I know. How irresponsible of me, right? I should've brought something with me. But in my defense, this wasn't exactly on my To Do list today.

I glanced over at Nico. He's frowning and glaring at the ground.

I nervously clear my throat. "Nico?" I say softly.

"What?" He snaps, his dark brown eyes boring into mine.

"I-I was just… listen." I take a deep breath. "I know you're scared, I am too. I know you're worried."

"Worried doesn't even begin to cover it, Will! The only reason I'm up and moving and not cowering in a corner right now is because of Raven. She's gone. She's gone and I might never see her again." Nico's eyes are swimming with tears and his face is flushed with red.

"Hey. Hey, it'll be oka-" I start.

"No! No it _won't_ be okay! Just shut _up_ Will! Leave me alone." Nico pulls at his hair, looking a little manic, as he yells at me.

I gape, standing there, open mouthed. I've never seen him like this.

I move towards him like I would approach a wounded animal. Hands up, slowly, trying not to scare him away.

"What are you doing?" Nico hisses. "I told you to leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that Nico." I say, making my voice gentle. "I can't leave you here alone. I can't. And I won't."

"I've done it before, Will. I think I can handle it again." Nico's trying to act indifferent, like he doesn't need me. But there are cracks in his supposedly strong act. His words go up like a question at the end, like he's not sure if he believes himself.

I do. I believe him. I know for a fact that he could survive this on his own again. But I don't _want_ him to.

I sigh, placing my hand on my hip and running my other hand through my hair. I'm not quite sure how to start. "I don't-I don't want you to. . ." I stuttered out, gesturing randomly. "I don't want you to feel like you have to be strong all the time. I want you to feel like you can lean on me, and be supported by someone."

Nico looked at me, and blinked. His face was blank, and it was making me nervous. What was going on inside his head?

Nico kept walking. I followed him tiredly, taking in a deep breath and choking on the smoky, acidic air. Nico didn't even glance in my direction. So much for getting an answer, I guessed. We walked in silence for a while.

Finally, I heard Nico's voice. It was unsteady, but still, he was talking to me again. "I know," He said. "I know you're there for me. It's just hard sometimes. I'm not used to it. And I'm sorry for yelling, Will. I didn't mean it. But you know I hate it when you coddle me." His mouth twitched, like he was holding back a smile.

I felt the corners of my mouth turn upwards. "I'm sorry too, Nico. Sometimes I forget that I can't be your doctor all the time."

Nico grinned at me. But then his smile slipped away. "We've got trouble."

I followed the path of Nico's brown eyes and saw a shape lumbering towards us in the darkness.

"Holy Hephaestus," I breathed. What _was_ that thing? With all the smoke in the air, I couldn't tell until the creature drew closer.

I realized that the creature was a woman. She was beautiful, with long blonde hair and green and yellow eyes, but, uh, I don't exactly swing that way. Lowering my gaze, I saw that where the woman's legs should be, she instead had two snake tails, both large and mottled green and brown. A _dracaena_. The woman seemed to be less and less radiant as she approached. Her eyes looked less like jewels and more like poison, and had a malicious glint to them. Her hair seemed more grey than blonde up close.

"Hello, boys," She said, her forked tongue flicking around.

Nico stepped around me and pushed me behind his short frame. "I suggest leaving before my sword makes friends with your neck. Leave us alone."

The _dracaena_ laughed, and it sounded like a chorus of snakes hissing in harmony. "You're the ones in _my_ territory. You two are fair game. Besides… there's no way you could take us down."

"Us?" I questioned. "There's only one of y-" I was cut of when I felt a flash of searing pain flare up my arm. A hot, warm something flowed from my arm and onto the ground. _Blood._

I sank down to my knees. The air smelled like metal and sulfurous smoke. The ringing in my ears was almost deafening, drowning out all other noise. Even with my blurry vision and the smoke surrounding us, I could still vaguely make out Nico. He was battling with the two _dracaena_ and… losing, it seemed. The pain in my arm was unbearable. It felt like there had been poison coating the blade. I was begging my mind to just _let me black out already, pleasepleasepleaseplease_ but I stayed maddeningly awake.

The battle was still going, but the ringing in my ears had faded almost completely. At this point, my whole arm hurt so bad that I wanted to die. It felt like my arm was on fire and in the process of burning off entirely. My head was swimming and I was afraid to look down at the wound.

When I finally ended up looking, what I saw made me want to throw up. So I did. I rolled onto my side, and retched onto the ground until I was just spitting up bile.

The gash on my arm still hadn't stopped bleeding, and the flesh around it was smoking and hissing and tinted green. I could see bone. I smelled charred skin and the sharp, chemical scent of acid.

"Nico…" I croaked. I rolled back over, trying not to jostle my arm and failing, crying out pitifully.

Wait. _Something's wrong_ , I thought. _Something's gone horribly, horribly wrong._ The ringing in my ears had faded out completely, but now there was only silence. This was a violent kind of quiet, even more so than it would have been if the sounds of blades clashing together were echoing.

I looked around as best I could from my spot on the ground. Nico was crumpled on the floor a ways away like a used piece of paper. My mouth fell open. There was a small pool of dark red blood trickling out of a cut on his forehead. Nico's sword was still in his hand, but his grip had loosened noticeably.

Both _dracaena_ were gone. _They're probably assuming that the two of us'll wind up dead in the next half hour,_ I thought.

I focused my gaze on Nico again. _We'll, they're half right._

I crawled over to Nico, which actually was half army crawl, half clawing at the dirt in front of me and dragging myself over to him, doing my best to stifle any shouts and screams of pain, because I feel like my arm is broken, too. I don't want to attract any more attention. I've had enough attention to last me a lifetime, which for me, doesn't look like it's going to be that much longer.

I'm so caught up in my thoughts of saving Nico, that I don't even realize I've reached him until my fingertips brush the rough denim of his skinny jeans. I released the breath I didn't know I was holding and grasped his leg. I need to save him.

Using my healing powers in Tartarus proves to be harder than I had originally thought. Because I _hadn't_ thought. They seemed to move sluggishly, weak tendrils of flickering golden light snaking out of my dusty palms and fingertips, only strengthened by the fact that I knew if I didn't put everything I had into this, into _him_ , that there would be no more him. That Nico, my ironic ray of sunshine, would be gone forever.

I felt the energy seeping out of my from all my pores, and tried my best to get it to sink under Nico's skin, into his veins. This was his only hope.

Despite all my efforts, it hadn't done much. Nico was still losing blood, meanwhile I was losing all my energy.

I couldn't let him die. I _couldn't_.


End file.
